[10] In Russian historiography, it has been interpreted as the end of the "Tatar yoke" in Russia,[11][12][8][13] though some historians believe that the event itself was insignificant and did not change Russo-Tatar relations.

[16][17][5][18] The main Russian defence line ran along the Oka River from Kaluga east toward Nizhny Novgorod.

At Kaluga the Oka bends sharply from north to east and the defense line was extended westward along the Ugra River.

In late 1479 Ivan quarreled with his brothers, Andrey Bolshoy and Boris of Volotsk, who began intriguing with Casimir.

Around 30 September Ivan returned to Moscow to meet with his bishops and boyars and major decisions were made.

Vasily Nozdrovaty and the exiled Crimean khan Nur Devlet were sent east down the Oka and Volga to attack Akhmed in the rear.

On 3 October Ivan moved to Kremenets (now Kremenskoye [ru] in modern Medynsky District) to watch the front.

[clarification needed] He then tried to secretly move his troops to a place called 'Opakhov', but his movement was detected and the crossing blocked.

[citation needed] It was getting late in the season and both sides knew that once the river froze solid it would no longer be a barrier.

On 26 October Ivan began moving troops from the Ugra northeast to Kremenets and then east to Borovsk.

Here he had a good defensive position to protect Moscow and could strike in any direction if Akhmed chose to advance.

[citation needed] Nikolay Karamzin wrote: "It should have been an odd image: two armies ran away from each other, not pursued by anyone", but it is now clear that the two withdrawals were independent.

Nesin thinks that a major factor was the end of Ivan's quarrel with his brothers and the resulting additional troops.

Akhmed may have thought Ivan's withdrawal was a ruse to draw him into an ambush, a common steppe tactic.

[citation needed] For the next century, relations between the Russians and Mongols continued to rapidly change, with both launching incursions and attacks against each other.