Short description: In Russian (ask us if in doubt). It deserves closer attention in the study of Russia's eastern policy in the mid-sixteenth century as it is a rare testimony to the paradoxical continuity between pre-revolutionary historiography and the historiography of the Soviet period. N. Firsov constantly refined his conception of the colonization of the Volga region taking into account economic materialism which was reflected in his works of the late 1910s and 1920s. SKUalb2ec11c8673bc53a3.