IOR/L/PS/9/71/3

Translation of a letter from the Foreign Minister of Russia, Count [Karl Robert] Nesselrode, in St Petersburgh [St Petersburg], to the Foreign Minister of Persia [Iran], Meerza Abool Hussan Khan [Mīrzā Abū al-Ḥasan Khān Shīrāzī], of 26 March 1827. The letter concerns the ongoing war between Russia and Persia [Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828]. Count Nesselrode argues that Russia has been forced into war with Persia following the Persian attack on Russian territory while the mission of Prince Minchikoff [Prince Aleksandr Sergeevich Menshikov], whom he indicates was empowered to settle the differences between Russia and Persia, was ongoing. He also reports that the Emperor of Russia would be willing to seek peace in return for the agreement of an ‘obvious, distinct, permanent, and strong’ frontier between Russia and Persia, and reparations for the damage caused by Persia during the war, indicating that the Governor-General of Georgia has been given instructions to conclude a treaty on this basis.

Count Nesselrode also reports that permission has been denied for Noskoff [Ivan Fyodorovich Noskov], who had travelled to Persia to deliver a gift to the Shah [Fatḥ-‘Alī Shāh Qājār], to wear a decoration bestowed upon him by the Shah.

This document was originally enclosed, numbered 1 in dispatch No. 49, in the letter of the East India Company Envoy to Persia, Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of 22 June 1827 (IOR/L/PS/9/71/1).