The creation of the Russian state

The formation of centralized states is determined primarily by the growth of social division of labor and commodity-money relations, which destroy the closed natural economy, expand economic ties between individual lands, create the need for their political unification and create opportunities for such unification. All these prerequisites were present in Russia in the second half of the XV century, and its further economic development was impossible without the elimination of feudal fragmentation and the creation of a centralized state. Therefore, the "gathering" of Russian lands under the authority of the Grand Dukes of Moscow, which began in the conditions of feudal fragmentation, received the support of a variety of population groups. In the creation of a strong state power were interested primarily in medium and small feudal lords. Only a centralized state could keep the servile peasants in service and ensure their exploitation in the new economic conditions. The trade and handicraft population of the cities was also interested in the centralization of state power.