Muravsky Trail

It ran mostly through thinly populated tallgrass steppe country ('Muravá' is an old Slavic word for prairie or grassland) avoiding forests, marshes and river crossings.

In the wake of the Russo-Crimean War (1571), it became increasingly clear that only a defense line south of the Great Zasechnaya cherta would put an end to annual incursions.

The core of his force was a guard of 200-1000 musketeers with light artillery and supply carts that could be formed into a wagenburg.

[citation needed] On nearing enemy territory they camped for a few days and sent out scouts to be sure there were no significant forces in the area.

They would send out scouts to look for enemy forces and capture prisoners for interrogation and then sweep through an area 10 to twelve leagues broad, rendezvousing at a pre-arranged point each night.

[citation needed] According to Davies,[2] the trail started at Perekop (about 1100 km south of Moscow) and ran northeast parallel to the Sea of Azov coast about two thirds of the way and then swung north along the watershed between the basins of the Dnieper River and Donets.

The western branch was the Muravsky proper which ran northwest to about Valki and then northeast west of Belgorod to Livny.

The center or Izyumsky Trail seems to have run directly north along the south-flowing part of the Donets and joined the Muravsky at Stary Oskol.

The Nogai Road proper was much farther east and ran from near Volgograd through Michurinsk to the Oka at Ryazan.