Initial Russia: on the way from Varangians to Greeks

The history of the initial Russia is closely connected with the path from the Varangians to the Greeks. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, this path began in Scandinavia and walked through the lands of the Slavic and Finnish tribes to the capital of Byzantium Constantinople. Arab silver entered the west along this path, and the Rus-traders brought furs, honey, wax, slaves to the east.

Where the Russians occupied the Slavic and Finnish settlements, organizing their outposts that controlled this path, later the cities of Ladoga, Novgorod, Kyiv arose.

With the path from the Varangians to the Greeks and with geographical points along the way, the activities of the first Rurikovich, Rurik, Oleg, Igor, Olga, Svyatoslav are closely connected. The Varangians-Ruses played the role of a kind of catalyst in the folding of a new Slavic-Scandinavian civilization, which received the name of Kievan Rus.

Along the path “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, a new state of Russia was formed, which declared its appearance in the historical arena by raids on Byzantium, one of the most powerful and wealthy empires of the early Middle Ages