Over the centuries, the Serbs have repeatedly established their colonies and even inhabited localities in Moldova. A new stage in Serbian-Russian-Moldovan relations begins in the 19 century. As early as in November 1804, a Serbian delegation headed by one of the prominent figures of the rebels, Archpriest Matvey Nenadovich, went to Russia. At that time, Moldova acted as a connecting linker between the Serbs and Russia. Moldavia, as well as Wallachia, began to play a significant role in Serbian–Russian relations after joining in 1806. Russia's war with Napoleon with ensuing withdrawal of the Danube army to fight him resulted in the fact that at that time Russian-Serbian ties were reduced to a minimum. In the autumn of 1813, the Turks attacked the Serbs, captured Belgrade and crushed the First Serbian Uprising. Many of its leaders fled to Austria where were interned. Among them was Karageorgiy, who in 1814 with a number of his supporters moved to Russia and settled in Bessarabia. The governor of the Bessarabian region, engineer Major-General Garting, anticipated a potential intention of Serbs to settle in Bessarabia on empty state lands. From archival materials, you can also learn some details of the establishment of Serbs in Russia. According to the testimony of the Russian ambassador to Austria, Stackelberg, it follows that the Austrian government wanted the settlement of Serbs far from its borders, fearing the discontent of the Turkish authorities, with whom Austria had appropriate peace treaties. Bessarabia was connected with Serbia via some other channels. In October 1875, the daughter of Moldovan colonel in the Russian service, Peter Ivanovich Keshko, and Pulcheria Sturdza — Natalia Keshko became the wife of Serbian Prince Milan Obrenovich and later on, after her husband Milan Obrenovic became King of Serbia in March 1882, she became queen. She came to be the first and only Moldavian queen.