[1] It portrays a fictional event of people of the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible kneeling before the Polish king Stephen Báthory at Pskov during the final period of peace negotiations at the end of the 1578-1582 Livonian campaign.

Grigory Afanasyevich Naschokin had performed diplomatic assignments more than once, but he met Stephen Báthory in Lithuania a year before the siege - in 1580.

He, along with other voivodes, intended to blow up the fortress, but when this failed, they locked themselves in the Church of St. Sophia upon the enemy's entry into the city and declared that they could only be taken by force.

Half a year before the events depicted in the painting, Ivan IV reproached Stephen Báthory for his arrogance in dealing with his envoys.

All representatives of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were dressed quite lightly, without headgear, although the army of Stephen Báthory suffered greatly from the unusual cold: Oh God!

Possevino's mission was caused by a diplomatic move by Ivan the Terrible, who intended to use the Pope as a mediator in an international dispute: "But the archpriest Antony, accepting their deceit like cunning foxes, proclaims himself to the envoys of the sovereign, and makes an attempt to reconcile the desires of both countries, and himself sent by the Roman Pope to reconcile with the sovereign and the king.

He snatched the document out of Alferiev's hands, threw it at the door, grabbed Prince Eletsky by the collar and fur coat, turned him over, tore off his buttons and shouted: "Get out of my room, I won't talk to you!

"[3] Although there are other assessments of Possevino's activities, since Istoma Shevrygin was specifically sent by Ivan the Terrible to the Vatican to ask the Pope to "restrain the evil Báthory".

[4] The negotiations on the Russian side were actually led by Prince Dmitry Petrovich Eletsky and the wise nobleman and printer Roman Vasilyevich Alferiev-Beznin (apparently, the Poles called him "Basenia").

Nothing special happened during these days; we received word that the Russian envoys were nearby and today or tomorrow will come to Yama to start negotiations.

Historian N.M. Karamzin, evaluating the Treaty of Yam, called it "the most disadvantageous and dishonorable peace for Russia of all the ones concluded with Lithuania up to that time."