Although in 1519 he was obliged to buy off the Crimean khan, Mehmed I Giray, under the very walls of Moscow, towards the end of his reign he established Russian influence on the Volga.
A pesar de que en 1519 viuse obrigado a subornar ao Khan de Crimea, Mehmed I Giray, en fronte mesmo das murallas de Moscova, cara ao final do seu reinado logrou impor a influencia rusa na zona do Volga.