Empress Catherine the Great of Russia (r. 1762–1796) took advantage of the disorder to consolidate her control over the weak polities of the Caucasus, which was, for swaths of it, an integral Persian domain.

The kingdom of Georgia, a subject of the Persians for many centuries, became a Russian protectorate in 1783, when King Erekle II signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, whereby the Empress promised to defend him in the case of Iranian attack.

He put an end to the period of dynastic strife and proceeded to re-strengthen the Persian hold on the Caucasus by re-garrisoning the Iranian territories and cities in the area of modern-day Dagestan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, as well as ravaging and recapturing Georgia and reducing its capital Tbilisi to a pile of ashes in 1795.

The ultimate goal for the Russian government involved toppling the anti-Russian Shah and replacing him with his half-brother, namely Morteza Qoli Khan, who had defected to Russia, and was therefore pro-Russian.

The Russian court poet Derzhavin glorified this event in a famous ode; he would later comment bitterly on Valerian Zubov's inglorious return from the expedition in another remarkable poem.