Arkhangelsk Oblast the main shipyard for the Russian Navy. Among the oldest populated places of the oblast are Kholmogory, Kargopol, and Solvychegodsk; there are a number of Russian Orthodox monasteries, including the Antoniev Siysky Monastery and the World Heritage Site of the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea. Plesetsk Cosmodrome is one of three spaceports in Russia (the other two are Kapustin Yar in Astrakhan Oblast and Yasny in Orenburg Oblast). Arkhangelsk Oblast, which includes Nenets Autonomous Okrug, borders Kirov Oblast, Vologda Oblast, the Republic of Karelia, the Komi Republic, and the White, Pechora, Barents and Kara seas. Cape Fligely in Franz
Astrakhan Khanate Crimea (Mehmed I Giray in 1523 and Sahib I Giray in 1549). The khanate traditionally had military and diplomatic relations with Crimea, the Nogais and sometimes the Circassians. Diplomatic contact with Moscow began in 1532 or earlier. About this time Moscow was expanding east toward Kazan which it conquered in 1552. It also was gaining the power to exert force down the Volga between Kazan and Astrakhan, something that is not explained in the sources. In 1551 Yamghurchi of Astrakhan made a nominal submission to Moscow. He soon changed sides and allied with Crimea and the Nogais. Russia sent 30000