The Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji was signed in 1774 between Russia and the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman Empire was defeated in a Russo-Turkish War. The treaty allowed Ottoman Christians to sail under the Russian flag, which was very important to the Greeks as it allowed them to build a large navy and develop their economy. The Ottomans lost the Crimea to Russia and an independent Crimean state. The treaty was misinterpreted as giving Russia the right to protect Orthodox Christians in the Empire. It also provided for building a Russian Orthodox Church in Constantinople, which was never built.
