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Russian war with Lithuania

When the Russo-Lithuanian truce expired in 1562, Ivan IV rejected Sigismund's offer of an extension. The Tsar had used the period of the truce to build up his forces in Livonia, and he invaded Lithuania. His army raided Vitebsk and, after a series of border clashes, took Polotsk in 1563. Lithuanian victories came at the Battle of Ula in 1564 and at Czasniki (Chashniki) in 1567, a period of intermittent conflict between the two sides. Ivan continued to gain ground among the towns and villages of central Livonia but was held at the coast by Lithuania. The defeats of Ula and Czasniki, along with the defection of Andrey Kurbsky, led Ivan IV to move his capital to the Alexandrov Kremlin while the perceived opposition against him was repressed by his oprichniki.

A "grand" party of diplomats left Lithuania for Moscow in May 1566. Lithuania was prepared to split Livonia with Russia, with a view to a joint offensive to drive Sweden from the area. However, this was seen as a sign of weakness by Russian diplomats, who instead suggested that Russia take the whole of Livonia, including Riga, through the ceding of Courland in southern Livonia and Polotsk on the Lithuanian–Russian border. The transfer of Riga, and the surrounding entrance to the River Dvina, troubled the Lithuanians, since much of their trade depended on safe passage through it and they had already built fortifications to protect it. Ivan expanded his demands in July, calling for Ösel in addition to Dorpat (Tartu) and Narva. No agreement was forthcoming and a ten-day break was taken in negotiations, during which time various Russian meetings were held (including the zemsky sobor, the Assembly of the Land) to discuss the issues at stake. Within the Assembly, the church's representative stressed the need to "keep" Riga (though it had not yet been conquered), while the Boyars were less keen on an overall peace with Lithuania, noting the danger posed by a joint Polish-Lithuanian state. Talks were then halted and hostilities resumed upon the return of the ambassadors to Lithuania.

In 1569, the Treaty of Lublin unified Poland and Lithuania into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Duchy of Livonia, tied to Lithuania in real union since the Union of Grodno in 1566, came under Polish–Lithuanian joint sovereignty. In June 1570 a three-year truce was signed with Russia. Sigismund II, the Commonwealth's first King, died in 1572 leaving the Polish throne with no clear successor for the first time since 1382 and thus began the first free election in Polish history. Some Lithuanian nobles, in an effort to retain Lithuanian autonomy, proposed a Russian candidate. Ivan, however, demanded the return of Kiev, an Orthodox coronation, and a hereditary monarchy in parallel to Russia's, with his son, Feodor, as King. The electorate rejected these demands and instead chose Henry of Valois (Henryk Walezy), brother of King Charles IX of France.