Extremely poor harvests were encountered in 1601–1603, with nighttime temperatures in all summer months often below freezing, wrecking crops; see Russian famine of 1601–1603.[1] The probable cause of climatic changes was the eruption of Huaynaputina volcano in Peru in 1600.[2][3][4] Widespread hunger led to mass starvation; the government distributed money and food for poor people in Moscow, but that only led to refugees' flocking to the capital and increasing the economic disorganization. The oligarchical faction, headed by the Romanovs, considered it a disgrace to obey a boyar; conspiracies were frequent; the rural districts were desolated by famine and plague; large bands of armed brigands roamed the country committing all manner of atrocities; the Don Cossacks on the frontier were restless; and the government demonstrated it could not keep order. (...)

Czy faktycznie u początków tych problemów stała erupcja wulkaniczna na odległym kontynencie ?

W 1601 roku doszło do klęski głodu na Litwie i w konsekwencji zarazy oraz kłopotów z zaopatrzeniem armii Zamojskiego walczącej w inflantach.