[RFCE++]SS1-Crimea: No Cities Left Behind!

“"O, how much better to lie on one's bier,
than to be a captive on the way to Tatary”​

SS1-Crimea: No Cities Left Behind!​

​

October 25, 2014 will forever shine in the chronicles of CFC! For it was then when a new game genre was invented by your not so humble servant: Succession Stories! Succession Stories (SS) whimsically incorporate the elements of Succession Games, Stories and Tales and Let's Play videos. Forget about subscribing and waiting for updates -- be the update. Forget about democracy in the savage age of absolute rulers -- watch and read the scrolls of previous rulers, claim the throne and reign as you please! Provided you follow simple SS rules that is:

SS General Rules:

1. Opening Poster creates the game, indicates the rules specific for the given SSS game, provides the link to the mod (if any), plays ten turns and uploads the save to Google Drive ss.civ4 .

2. Using Evolve or any other free screen recorder he shoots "The Last Will" video (no need for voice) of the situation in the empire which he is leaving to his successor, uploads it to the dedicated SS Civ4 Youtube Channel, posting the video(s) together with some free style remarks about his reign in Post 2, and provides the link to the save file. Then he "dies".

3. Any user of CFC who can make the save file work on his computer and has time to immediately play the next 10 turns posting a placeholder "The throne is claimed by [name][number] Name I", plays 10 turns, edits the placeholder with an update, just like the OP, and dies. If no update appears in the placeholder within 24 hours any other player can claim the throne and abide by the same rules.

4. The same player (this includes OP) can claim the throne as Name II only if no one claimed the throne with placeholder in the next 24 hours from the date of edit describing the reign of Name I.

5. Any OCC comments in updates need to be in spoilers. Lurkers can post without spoilers and give any advice, however rulers can play as they please. Replays are allowed only when some posted rules are broken.

6. OP is tasked with loose responsibilities of the host and can ban abusive players from claiming the throne, however if he disappears -- show will go on.

7. No other use of public ss.civ4 Google account is allowed. Players who are worried about their privacy are advised to avoid visiting gmail of the account as it records IP.



SS1 Info and Specific Rules:

1. As the video suggests we are playing RFCE++ mod with fixed Beta 3 version, please install it from here to avoid CTDs.

2. Inspired by my exactly 3 years old [DoC] Mongols: No Cities Left Behind (unfinished) Emperor/Marathon Conquest Victory we are trying to win effective One City Challenge game by razing (almost) every single city on the map. No turn can end with Crimea having more than one city. Either raze the city, or gift it to Vassals or (the only exception) Ottomans. If neither is possible -- raze the captured (i.e. holy) city using WB. Always use Alt S to preserve the name of the city on city ruins tile for additional fun!

3. Do not raze Moscow before 1571 to avoid winning by UHV. Conquest/Time only. If we fail -- we fail, but at least Giray dynasty will die trying.

4. Crimean Khans need to have defensive pacts with Ottoman Sultans whenever possible. If Ottomans collapse (very likely) -- their Indy cities can be razed too. Ottoman victory of any kind is also our victory.

5. Starting situation is here. Make sure you can open and play the file before claiming the throne (if it is vacant).

Good luck, lions of Allah and Genghis, and may the Power of Iasyri be with you! Prove that Polish proverb right! No mercy to Dar al-Harb! No cities left behind!

Turn 10





bismi-llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm

Oh, my dear son, my brave lion! I was young and full of strength when certain clans (3 Knights and 2 Chambuls) of the Golden Horde Empire ceased their nomadic life in the Desht-i Kipchak and decided to make Crimea their yurt, homeland. They called me from the exile in Lithuania to become their Khan and ruller, for I have the blood of the Great Genghis Khan, our eternal father! Never forget where the House of Giray comes from, my arslan!

Bagcasaray was founded by me as the only center of power, the only city that should remain in Europe, safe for the cities of our brotherly House of Osman and those infidel cities that will agree to become our vassals. Cherish our capital for we will never keep any other city in our domain. Our eternal father Genghis Khan did not believe in cities. You defeat the enemy, you collapse their civilization, but their people get inspire by all their buildings and wonders and rise again and again! Who needs that hassle? Accurately burn all the cities, let the defeated live in harmony with nature, acknowledge the rule of the Khan and forget about revolutions and civil wars!

Our immortal Khanate was established in a dangerous and fragmented world, as you can see from the illustrated scrolls and maps I left for you, my son! Even Crimea being small, was not united. Tomaso di Campofregoso, doge of infidel Republic of Genoa, was ruling over the large port city of Kefe, and was also Emperor-Elect of Unholy Roman Empire. I was very crafty with him at the beginning, maintaining uneasy peace in order to trade our Arabic Knowledge for their knowledge of Gunpowder! Yes, my son, sometimes you have to be diplomatic even with unfaithful generation, for the ways of victory are not always simple. But now I left you with ability to train Chambuls, our basic raiding units, may they be numerous and bring Crimea slaves and glory, my son!

Link to video.​

Six years after our Khanate was founded great changes came to Crimea, as you can see in this scroll. Our brothers in Kefe and Azaq revolted and joined our Khanate, prompting infidel dog Doge (who lost Emperor's title to his Burgundian vassal) to declare war on us and our allies, the house of Osman! It only mobilized 4 more Chambul tumens to join our cause, though. In my lifetime I never saw any Genoese military and nor will see you, Allah willing. Being thankful to our brother Sultan for his support I have gifted Kefe and Azaq to Ottomans and focused on Barbaric fragments of Golden Horde who thought they are still in charge of the Steppe. Heaven cannot brook two suns, nor Steppe two Khans. Within a decade our horde defeated fragmented hordes in Taganrog, Kherson, Kamenets and former capital of Golden Horde -- Sarai Batu. Some of our people were gifted to House of Osman and settled in the steppe as a symbol of united Osman-Giray power over the Steppe!

Finishing civil war without much losses and adding 40 thousands slaves in Bagcasaray I trained my watchful eye on Muscovy and Lithuania. Timid Russians agreed to pay tribute 2 large units of gold every 3 years, and were left alone for a time being. Instead our tumens unleashed hell on infidel Lithuanians. They have found a strange city "Kaunas" in the Steppe, which was promptly captured and razed. Next was the turn of Kijevas, Lithuanian name for Slavic capital Kiev. Kiev became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after the Battle at Blue Waters, when Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, beat a Golden Horde army. Lithuanian statesman Martynas Goštautas was appointed as the first voivode of Kiev the same year; his appointment was met by hostility from locals. Despite its little remaining political significance, the city still played an important role as a seat of the local Orthodox metropolitan and World Wonder St. Sophia cathedral, the first Wonder captured by our horde! I asked to make a painting of it in case you are curious how it looked like:

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Kiev had a Jewish community of some significance. Lithuanian sponsorship of Jewish settlement in Kiev added fuel to the conflict that already existed between the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Fortunately when city was destroyed everyone went back to peasantry and unorganized religion and forgot about hostilities.

I saw a terrible nightmare the night we destroyed Kiev. I saw in my dream Kiev in charge of Crimea in some distant crazy future and Muscovy annexing us from Kiev! Fat chance it ever happening in reality, with no Kiev and Muscovy under Crimean Yoke! But just in case, please watch those Russians, my son! Don't let them grow too much, but spare Moskva for the time being. We need Russian tribute!

My war against Lithuanian suffered first and only setback of my reign when I captured Pinskas, in Belorussian lands owned by Grand Dutchy, which is not so Grand anymore. One of our Chambul tumens has been decimated in Lithuanian counterattack, but we captured Pinskas anyway and advanced all the way to Lithuanian capital, scouting Poland on our way there. I live this world with Lithuania weakened, but still alive. Be careful with Lithuanian Bojaras, who apparently enjoy advantage both against our Light (5 tumens) and Heavy (3 tumens) Horsemen. It will be up to you to finish this business, my son!

May Allah be merciful to my soul! People of Crimea call me Melek, Angel, for all the great victories I brought to our nascent Khanate in 30 years of my reign. May their prayers help me in Paradise and you in your noble rule my son. I live you in charge of a sizable army with some guns and ships even as you can see in my Last Will scroll bellow. Use them for the glory of Crimea! No city shall be left behind: that is my will and my testament to you my lion, my son!

Link to video.​

Nice. I would like to do this but RFC doesn't work for Macs. :/

Turn 20



Lietuvos metraščiai

As it is written in Holy Scriptures: A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more! This is a very fitting verse to describe the utter destruction of our Grand Duchy at the hands of the young Tatar ruler Tigranes II from the house of Giray.

In this terrible day of October 27 Anno Domini 1470 new Crimean ruler Tigranes II arrived at the walls of our noble capital Vilnius and ordered frontal assault by all the Tatar forces under his command. The tomb of Vytautas the Great was defended by the forces of local Bojaras from Radziwiłł family, newly Knighted nobles led by castellan of Vilnius, a detachment of Arbalists, and a single Trebuchette, quite useless in defense. Tatar Chambuls charged Radziwiłł guards with fire arrows and caused considerable damage to the city. Fortunately our boys were able to counter attack and cut Tatars in pieces! This, however was our last success. Our unpromoted Knights fail to dismount heavy Tatar cavalry and fell in the even 50-50 battle. Our Arbalists were already quite tired from previous actions in a war with Teutonic Order. Our glorious capital was sucked and I, being a humble scribe at the court, was captured and ordered to follow Tatar Khan in all his wars against our people in a despicable act of intellectual torture!

Upon burning Vilnius Khan opened borders with our age-old enemy Teutons, and spent few years in the heart of Lithuania, recuperating and waiting for reinforcements from Crimea. Thousands of captive workers were given the task to build roads in the Steppe to facilitate the movements of Tatar army. Grand Duchy of Lithuania was down to two cities: Minskas and Polockas. Defended by the walls and Bojaras who possessed advantage against Tatar horsemen our cities felt formidable. But evil fate was upon us! Distracted by Teuton incursions our defenders left the cover of our cities and Khan immediately exploited this mistake. Polockas was captured and burned with minimal Crimean losses, while Minskas was besieged and bombarded by the only artillery piece in the hands of Tatars. Khan sacrificed his Longbowman to weaken our Bojaras, used withdrawal technique, in which Crimean Chambuls are well skilled and was able to capture the last Lithuanian stronghold!

After the destruction of our civilization I was sent to be a slave on the only ship Tatars managed to operate in the Black Sea. While en route I have learned that Crimean Capital was celebrating the creation of Subject Horde, Nogais, which will allow Tatars to train military units faster and added 5 units of workforce to Bakhchysarai. Once on the Crimean Holk I witnessed the embarkation of Chambuls, which were the veterans of Crimean wars with Golden Horde. Now they were sent against Barbarian Timurids which captured Trapezund in Northern Anatolia and brought Crimean ally Ottoman Turkey to near collapse! Single Crimean detachment killed 2 Timurid Keshiks and burned Trapezund to the ground. Thereafter we sailed to Istanbul and met with Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II:



Bayezid II was the elder son of the sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople. On the death of his father in 1481, his brother Cem contested the succession. Bayezid, supported by a strong faction of court officials at Constantinople, succeeded in taking the throne. Cem eventually sought refuge with the Knights Hospitaller of St. John at Rhodes. Sultan asked Crimeans to sail to Rhodes and recapture his fugitive brother from the Knights. Despite 30-70 odds Tatar Chambuls, trained in Amphibious attacks, were able to kill a detachment of St. John Knights on Rhodes, however the last remaining unit of Knights kept Rhodes and prince Cem, in order to blackmail Turkish sultans in the future!

While attacking Rhodes we heard the news of Crimean making peace with Holy Roman Empire and declaring a war against Poland. Few inaguaral battles with Polish Knights gave rise to Great Crimean General Tugay Bey, which was sent by Tigranes II to Poland in order to strengthen the organizational abilities of Tatar forces in Poland. This was his last act as a ruler. In 1500 he died living the following world to his successor:

Link to video.​

Turn 30



In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful!

I, Utemish-khadzhi ibn Maulana Mukhammadom Dosti, collected these oral tales about the reign of Tigranes the Third, from the house of Giray, third Khan of Crimeans.

Khan Giray inherited a bitter war with infidels of Polonia, which he conducted in the horrible times of bubonic plague, which was sent on the entire humanity of the known world. More warriors died from plague than from hostile actions of enemy. Even though Bagcasaray itself was spared the deadly disease -- the entire Heavy Cavalry of Crimean Army was infected and died during the 20 year reign of the Third Giray.

Khan started his reign with a brilliant attack on Warszawa. Crimean forces charged across the Vistula River with only 30% of odds and destroyed Polish Knights. However victors could not enjoy the promotions, glory and well deserved rest. Warszawa itself was unaffected by the Plague, but disease from far away Poznan killed attackers and only introducing some fresh forces from far away helped to capture and raze Warszawa!

Plague was, however, affecting Khan's enemies as well. Cities of Lwow, Poznan, Bresc were all captured thanks to the plague, which weaken many of their defenders. However Polish forces were still numerous, and therefore Khan bribed Teutonic Order with 750 pieces of gold, in order to attack Polonia and help our holy war with the hands of unholy Teutonic Knights.

Christian world became more fragmented during this reign, for Denmark initiated the Reformation, with Germany and Poland converting right away!

For nearly 20 years Crimeans been besieging Polish capital Krakow, withstanding constant counterattacks of besieged. Tugay Bey, our great general, which had third (highest) degrees of Medics in his supply train, was able to save many lives from the effects of the plague, but Tatars never had enough forces to attack Krakow, which was defended by a huge army. New light cavalry units were trained in Crimea proper in order to join the siege. On their way there they destroyed city of Sandomierz, leaving Poland with 3 cities only, because Teutonic Knights managed to capture Gdansk. As all can see from the scrolls bellow Polish king was ready to make peace giving us one of those cities, however Khan refused, tasking his successor with destroying Poles at all costs. There was a reason for that: Russians refused to pay tribute and it was a huge slap on the face of the great Khan! We need to finish this war to start the new one.

Tigranes said:

3. Do not raze Moscow before 1571 to avoid winning by UHV. Conquest/Time only. If we fail -- we fail, but at least Giray dynasty will die trying.

Click to expand...

No Conquest Victory in RFC:Europe and RFC:Europe++

Looks like I have to resub

SanJose said:

No Conquest Victory in RFC:Europe and RFC:Europe++

Click to expand...

Well, if we help Ottomans win -- that will be victory for the Sword of Islam anyway!

Turn 40

Tigranes said:

Well, if we help Ottomans win -- that will be victory for the Sword of Islam anyway!

Click to expand...

it's sounds impossible(about Domination Victory for Ottomans)

Turn 50

Svenska Krönikor

by

Aegidius Laurentii Girs


​

The ceremonial election of the regent Gustav Eriksson as king of Sweden took place when the leading men of Sweden got together in Strängnäs in June 1523. Our great king was an enigmatic person who has been hailed as a liberator against the Danes and denounced as a tyrannical ruler, brutally suppressing three major uprisings – one in Dalarna – which had once been the first region to support his claim to the throne, one in Västergötland, and one in Småland. Gustav worked to raise taxes, end Feudalism and bring about a Swedish Reformation. However all this work came to end in the mid 1550s when Kingdom of Sweden lost the war against Tatars, from far away Crimea.

Around 1540s new Crimean Khan Tigranes V Giray defeated Novgorod Republic, by capturing and razing Korela and Staraya Ladoga, thus bringing Tatar Chambul in direct contact with Swedish possessions in Finland. Novgorod capitulated and joined Poland to become vassal to the Khanate. Tatars by then had razed exactly 20 cities and were celebrating their barbaric achievement as their 1st Unique Historical Victory.

King Gustav was pleased with the humiliation of Novgorodian Russians and sent an envoy to Tigranes V, inviting him to visit Stockholm and enjoy the Kungliga Hovkapellet (Royal Court Orchestra), one of the now oldest orchestras of the world. Khan's reply was rather strange: "I will visit you with my orchestra of mounted orchers archers."

And that's what he did! Led by unstoppable Tugay Bey Tatars arrived to the snowy Finland and captured little town of St. Michel with no losses. Then they proceeded to Åbo, known as Turku to Finns, the oldest city in Finland. Needless to say that on it's place we now have oldest city ruins in Finland.

The last blow to king Gustav's prestige was delivered at Bjorneborg, last Swedish stronghold in Finland. Galleon with reinforcements was captured in the port and burned by ferocious Tatars, who surprising spared the northernmost Finnish city, which boasted a settled Great Scientist. Khan was so marveled by nearby source of Amber that he gifted the city to Ottoman Sultan Suleiman.

This was the last straw that broke the will of Gustav I. He made peace with Tatars, surrendering to them city of Lysekil at the border with Norway. Frivolous Khan than gifted that city to his brothers in faith from Cordoba. Swedish noblemen, shocked with the appearance of Moors and Ottomans in Scandinavia, rebelled and our poor Swedish Kingdom descended into the civil war!

As for the Khan, he took a little break and then ordered his troops to invade the lands of military Christian Orders. First he captured Rhodes, the Headquarters of Knights Hospitallier, which passed to Ottomans. Then Tatars turned against their former allies in Polish war -- namely Teutonic Order. Tatar vassals -- Poland and Novgorod -- had no choice but join the war. Knights punished Poles immediately by capturing their new capital Głogów, as you can see in the scroll bellow.

As for our king without kingdom, Gustav, his health declined. He had suffered chronic infections of a leg and in his jaw. He gave a so-called "last speech" in 1560 to the chancellors, his children and other noblemen, whereby he encouraged them to remain united and work towards respawn of united Sweden. On 29 September 1560, Gustav died and was buried (together with three of his wives, while only two are engraved) in the Cathedral of Uppsala.

Link to video.​

Turn 60




For 300 years our noble Teutonic and Livonian Orders ruled over Prussian and Livonian lands, baptizing heathen Baltic tribes with the sword and the fire. But all this came to abrupt end during the reign of the new Crimean Khan Tigranes VI Giray. This ruler made the goal of his life to destroy us.

Crimean Tatars only had 10 tumens of their veteran Chambuls when they declared a war on us. My lord and Master Gotthard von Kettler was confident we can withstand the invasion of these savages. After all our land had one of the most organized government in Europe. We had a postal service which allowed mail delivery within 2 days in any city of the order. While the rest of the Europe did very little about their sanitation problems we have introduced danskers -- a toilet facility, belonging to a castle, that is housed in a tower over a river or stream. The towers are linked to the castle over a bridges, which have a covered or enclosed walkway.

This organization, however, did not impress Khan very much, as he had his own methods. He brought many civilian prisoners from previous wars Tatars fought and spread them around our castles, tempting defenders to leave the protection of the walls to capture them. Then Chambuls would swiftly arrive from far away and destroy our units again and again! Recognizing that he cannot capture Riga with only one battery of Bombards Crimean Khan paid 50 measures of gold every two years to his Ottoman sponsors to buy Sulfur. Demanding Iron from his Novgorodian vassals as a tribute Crimea was able to build 6 new batteries of Bombards, to assist his unholy effort. Our noble Knights undertook a series of counterattacks, but Tatars had many more veterans than us, and gradually capture one city after another. Utilizing hit and run tactics against our capital Konigsberg, they captured and burned the city, so that the rest of the Order started to call ourselves Livonian Order and not Teutonic.

This however led to catastrophic developments. Our remaining cities descended into a civil war, and their defenders lost all their promotions and strenth to fights Tatars. Poland, as Crimean vassal, claimed back Głogów, with the last Teutonic Knight units becoming Polish. Tatars meanwhile finally captured Riga, after 20 year siege, renamed it Ryga and passed it to their Polish puppets. Same was the fate of Dünaburg, renamed by Poles to Dźwińsk.

Disgusted by the absence of support from Holy Roman Empire, and Germany in particular, my lord and the last Grand Master of Livonian Order von Kettler converted to Lutheranism and secularized Semigallia and Courland. He was rather pleased when in 1580, right before his death, Khan Tigranes VI declared war on Catholic Germany. Holy Roman Emperor, doge of Genoa, which had a not stop war with Ottomans for a century, was pressed to support German lands and cities and has to face Tatars now. Ottomans meanwhile got much stronger thanks to the union with Muslim states in Tunisia and Algeria. The only good thing for Christians was the establishment of Hapsburg Empire, after the union between Austria and Hungary, as well as discovery of the New World and acquisition of Cuba by Portugal. Will this be enough to stop Ottoman-Crimean plague?

Turn 70


It is with a sad heart, my dear colleagues in trade, that I turn now to describe the sad events that led to downfall of great Hansa, destroyed by Tatar hordes of Tigranes VII Giray, the bloodthirsty Khan of Crimea.

I, Heinrich Sudermann, was the first General Counsel of the Hanseatic League, until it was destroyed by evil Tatars. For over the century prior this our glorious city of Lübeck was the "Queen of the Hanseatic League", being by far the largest and most powerful member of our trade organization. In 1375, Emperor Charles IV named Lübeck one of the five "Glories of the Empire", a title shared with Venice, Rome, Pisa and Florence. During the time of my service Lübeck was not only the HQ of Hansa, but also Bank of St. George, and would bring a lot of gold to Germany. Unfortunately in 1580s our city was only defended by a detachment of Longbowman and a group of Landsknecht, our unique German military unit, which has 25% extra odds against Light Cavalery, 50% against Heavy Cavalry and 50% against Heavy Infantry. It was rumored that Germany has so few units thanks to our Genoan Holy Roman Emperor, who kept raising his Imperial Army using our German units. Thanks to the stupid rules about voting for Emperor (no voting for yourself) -- rulers of Germany never get elected, while having the most votes. They always end up giving their votes to countries like Genoa and Burgundy, who take our units away from home, and fight their wars on behalf of Empire!

Not surprisingly, when Tatar plague reached Germany, we had not a single stack of doom to defend ourselves! Lübeck, Leipzig, Hamburg, Mühlhausen fell to the murderous Tatars, one after another. Holy Roman Emperor, doge of Genoa, did nothing to help us. His troops finally clashed with Tatars near the walls of Prag, former Bohemian capital, which became independent, after the collapse of Bohemia and was captured by Emperor few years ago. Tatars were able to haul heavy Bombards all the way from Crimea and attacked 4 or 5 Imperial detachment housed in the city. The end of Prag was no better than the end of Lübeck: victorious Horde left nothing in the city, destroying even the famous Stone Bridge (Kamenný most). As the only means of crossing the river Vltava (Moldau), the Bridge was the most important connection between Prague Castle and the city's Old Town and adjacent areas. This "solid-land" connection made Prague important as a trade route between Eastern and Western Europe. This all became nothing but a memory now! With only 4 cities left in Germany and complete incompetence of Holy Roman Emperor Christendom is now facing not only Tatars, but also Turks. This is because Khanate captured of independent city of Belgrade in Serbia, but instead of razing it to the ground, they gifted the city to Ottomans, trying to bring more Turks into the heart of Europe!

1. The video isn't working.

2. How come no one else is claiming the throne?

DKVM said:

1. The video isn't working.

2. How come no one else is claiming the throne?

Click to expand...

It does work now -- I was still uploading it, when I posted the link. It takes 40 min to upload 1 min video with broadband, for some stupid reason, upload speed is like 10 times slower than download speed.

As for no one joining -- I am not sure, perhaps the Succession Stories concept is both too new and complicated, but I hope that eventually someone will give it a try and will play 10 turns just to get a feel of reigning over someone else's inheritance

I personally don't play because I do not wish to write a story. If it wasn't for that, I would join.

I would try it out but I don't have the mod and I'm just overall too lazy to record it and post it on YouTube, and then post the update here. I'm already stocked up with 4 stories that I never update anyways.

DKVM said:

I personally don't play because I do not wish to write a story. If it wasn't for that, I would join.

Click to expand...

It's completely freestyle, meaning you simply tell us in brief what happened during your reign, using some eye-witness character, real (the way I find them in wikipedia) or imaginary (like a letter of Tatar soldier to his younger brother back in Crimea ).

I guess I'll download RFCE++ then. How do I record and upload?

DKVM said:

I guess I'll download RFCE++ then. How do I record and upload?

Click to expand...

I did not spare any effort to make OP one stop answer for all your questions . I have a link there to download the mod. Also in OP are the password for the dedicated account on youtube and Google drive. Any screen recording software will work, but I recommend the one in Evolve. Once in your background, Evolve helps you to record anything you see on your screen with hitting "`" key. Hitting "`" again will stop recording. I will wait for Khan DKMV I to play until 1620 AD Do whatever you want, just do not attack Russians -- they have defensive pact with Ottomans