Russo-Swedish War (1554–1557)

War between Sweden and the Tsardom of Russia

The Russo Swedish War of 1554–1557, considered a prelude to the Livonian War of 1558–1583, arose out of border skirmishes. It ended when the parties agreed on a truce in the Treaty of Novgorod (1557).

Relations between Sweden and Russia were tense. Ivan IV of Russia did not consider Swedish King Gustav I his equal and refused to negotiate with Swedish ambassadors in person. Ivan made the king's ambassadors confer with a governor of Novgorod, rather than receive them in the Moscow Kremlin, as could have been expected between equals. The tsar responded to Gustav's remonstrances: "Ask your merchants and they will tell you that Novgorod's suburbs are larger than your Stockholm and that Novgorod's governors are descended from sovereign rulers of great empires, whereas your parents sold oxen at a market several decades ago". Despite the tense relations between the two regents, a state of peace was the general situation during most of Gustav's reign, as agreed on in the Treaty of Novgorod (1537). However, both the Russians and the Swedes frequently crossed the border to plunder.

In 1554 the Pechenga Monastery was raided by the Swedes. The governor of Novgorod, Paletsky, sent Nikita Kuzmin to Stockholm to ask for an explanation, but the Russian representative was imprisoned. In response, Russia mounted an organised attack with up to 20,000 soldiers in March 1555. while other historians like John Chrispinsson, Hector H. Munro, and Dick Harrison claim that the war resulted in a draw. Other historians like Ulf Sundberg have also argued that the war could have ended either Inconclusively, or with a Russian or Swedish victory depending on how one views it.