the polish king sikismund i informed the western monarchs, that the muscovites are not christians, buts belonging to asia and who have agreed with the turks and tatars, to destroy. christian world, similar messages are heard from there to this day. in contrast to the autocratic, servant state, in poland already in the 16th century there was a democracy of the gentry, in fact a kind of feudal republic with elected kings. thus, in early modern times the two were predominantly adjacent. slavic countries represented polar versions of political regimes in europe. in in 1563, polotsk was taken by the russian army, but it was not possible to develop the success, since in 1564 the russian army was defeated in the battle of the communicants. in russia, aprichnina was introduced soon after. the second half of ivan the terrible's reign was marked by a streak of failure. in 1572, sigizmun died on august 2, the king of poland and the vyalyky prince of the grand duchy of lithuania. in poland you have to choose a king. whom to elect? each deputy of the sejm had the right of liberum veto or the right