In 1836, corps commander Rosen sent covert topographers through Chechnya for the clandestine surveying of the land that had not submitted. In a report to the emperor, Rosen acknowledges: "in 1836, to survey the direct route leading from Kakheti to Chechnya, a topographer was sent who, having crossed the snow ridge, came out onto the Caucasian Line at the fortress of Groznaya, and from there, through Chechnya and the lands of the Kistins and the Didois, returned to Kakheti"; at the same time "I sent from Vladikavkaz Ensign Prince Utsmiev of the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment with a topographer, through Chechnya, to Andia"[1]. Rosen named the method outright: "covert surveys of the lands of the mountaineers hostile to us"[1].