KÜÇÜK KAYNARCA, TREATY OF

(1774) Pact signed after the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–74, in Küçük Kaynarca (now Kaynardzha), Bulg.

, ending undisputed Ottoman control of the Black Sea. The treaty extended the Russian frontier to the southern Bug River and allowed Russia to navigate freely in Ottoman waters through the Bosporus Strait and the Dardanelles. Most far-reaching was a religious stipulation allowing Russia to represent Eastern Orthodox Christians in several regions, which Russia later interpreted as the right to intervene to protect Eastern Orthodox Christians anywhere in the Ottoman Empire.