The article analyzes a number of problems posed in the monograph by Professor A. I. Filyushkin “Inventing the First War of Russia and Europe” devoted to the perception of the Livonian and other wars by contemporaries and descendants. One of these problems - namely, the reasons for long-standing aspiration of Russians to the Baltic - attracted the attention of Professor P. A. Krotov, and he published a review of this work. His review criticizes the main position of the author of the book, according to which the Moscovite rulers moved in this direction seeking to expand and protect their possessions, and not having the aim of developing merchant shipping, as is commonly believed. Defending the traditional point of view,P. A. Krotov bases his evidence on the example of Ivangorod, which, in his opinion, became the first Baltic seaport of Muscovy and the forerunner of St. Petersburg. The weakness of the scholar’s position lies in its speculative nature. Realizing the importance of real evidence to prove the functi