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This article examines the complex of measures taken in relation to Siberia in 1695–1700. This policy was carried out with the active participation of Peter I and was one of the first instances of the sovereign’s intervention in Russia’s inner politics. The author analyzes Peter I and A.A. Vinius’s role in the formulation and implementation of this policy and comes to the conclusion that one of the reasons for its limited effectiveness was the erroneous assumption that the arbitrariness of the governors was the main reason of the Siberian revenues’ decline, and the failure to recognize that this decline was the result of a serious crisis in the fur trade in Siberia. An undoubted positive aspect of this policy was the development of metallurgical production in the Urals and Siberia.