The Russian Time of Troubles is far from over, and Russia has no strength to take advantage of the Commonwealth's weakness.

The Zemsky Sobor ("assembly of the land") had on February 21, 1613, named Michael Romanov, the seventeen-year old son of Fyodor Romanov, the new tsar.

Fyodor, now installed as Patriarch Filaret, is a popular boyar and patriarch of Moscow, one of several boyars who had vies to gain control of the Russian throne during the Time of Troubles.

The Romanovs are a powerful boyar family; Michael's great-aunt (the sister of his grandfather) was Anastasia Romanovna, the wife of Ivan the Terrible.

The new tsar has many opponents, however.

Marina Mniszech tries until her death in 1614 to install her child as Tsar of Russia; various boyar factions still vie for power, trying to unseat the young Tsar Michael; and Sweden intervenes in force, trying to gain the throne for Duke Carl Philip, even succeeding for a few months.

Philip receives even less support than Władysław, however, and the Swedes are soon forced to retreat from Russia.