The Imperial Russian involvement in the Persian Constitutional Revolution (Russian: Российской империи интервенция в персидской конституционной революции; Persian: مداخله امپراتوری روسیه در انقلاب مشروطه ایران) was to support the authoritarian faction led by Mohammad Ali Shah to defeat the constitutionalists. Until 20 April 1909, when the Russian army under Major General I. Snarsky occupied Tabriz to protect the Russian consuls, the Russian Empire indirectly supported Ali Shah and the authoritarian faction. Support from the Russian Empire included sending weapons, lending money to Colonel Vladimir Liakhov, the commander of the Persian Cossack Brigade, and a large-scale propaganda machine against the constitutionalist leaders.