For many years Russia, Ukraine , Belarus and even a part of Lithuania were the the

one country that was inhabited by the Slavic tribes . The historians agree that the
Slavic tribes began to inhabit the northern and central parts of the East-European
Plain in 1000 BC. They lived off hunting, fishing and farming. Some who lived in
“steppe” (a prairie) was engaged in cattle-breeding. In the sixth through eighth
centuries the tribes moved into three basic directions to the south (to the Balkans);
to the west and settled down between the Oder and the Elba rivers; and to the
northern east (to the East European Plain). In a result the Slavic tribes were divided
into three branches - southern, western and eastern. The eastern Slavs became the
ancestors for the modern Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. Ancient Slavs
were pagans. They had the Pantheon of Gods and believed in the evil and kind
spirits mostly the representation of the natural powers such as: Yarilo - the god of
the Sun, Perun - the god of Thunder and Lightning, war and weapons, Leda – the
goddess of love, Lel -the god of music
Although the Slavs were agricultural nation they built and lived in the cities that
were independent states. Many of them survived to our days like Novgorod and
Pskov. The Slaves suffered of constant invasions from Vikings from the North
(they called them - Varangians) and Nomadic tribes that came from South.
According to the legend in 862 the citizens of Novgorod( That time it was the
biggest and the richest city in the country) invited Varangian Prince Rurik to
come to Novgorod and to rule as a military Leader.
He laid a foundation for the Rurikovich dynasty of Russian Tsars that reined
Russia for 700 years and was replaced by the Romanovs when the last
representative of the Rurikovichs - Fyodor Inanovich (son of Ivan the Terrible)
died childless in 1598.
Kievan Rus - Foundation
In the early ninth century there were two pre-state unions with the centers in Kiev
and Novgorod. They represented both the northern and southern Slavic tribal
groups

Rurik, the Prince of Novgorod, died in 879; and three years later in 882 Oleg, who
was appointed a custodian for Rurik’s son and heir, Igor, united Kiev and
Novgorod states into Kievan Rus.

Kievan Rus became one of the major European medieval state in the 9th – 11th
centuries.
Prince Oleg was a very prominent military leader. His major opponent was the
Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire with the capital in Constantinople , was
the continuation of the Roman Empire in the eastern provinces during Late
Antiquity and in the Middle Ages. The Byzantine Empire could survive the
fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and
continued to thrive for an additional thousand years until it was conquered by the
Ottoman Empire in 1453. The Byzantine Empire was the most powerful economic,
cultural, and military force in Europe. When in the Middle ages culture and science
in all European countries declined – the Byzantine Empire progressed.
All the time the Byzantines tried to manipulate by the Kievan Rus for the own
political benefit. So when in 907 the Imperial envoys failed in an attempt to poison
Prince Oleg the Kievan Rus decided to fight back and initiated a military campaign
that was well recorded in the Byzantine chronicles as the most successful military
operation against the Empire. The records noted that the number of the Slavs who
invaded the Empire was so great, that grass would not regrow where the Slavs had
marched through. Prince Oleg’s forces reached the capital city – Constantinople
where he nailed his shield to the city gate as a sign of his victory and a warning.

There is one more person that should be mentioned speaking about this period of
Russian history. It is Princess Olga. Little is known about her life before her
marriage to Prince Igor who was the son and heir of Rurik. As we have just talked
Prince Oleg who was Igor’s custodian during this childhood consolidated power in
the region, through his conquests of the neighboring tribes. One of those tribes was
Drevlians. They agreed to pay a tribute to Oleg but after his death they refused to
pay it to Igor so when he came to claim the tribute he was assassinated . His widow
Princess Olga was proclaimed a regent in behalf of her three-year-old son
Svyatoslav. The Drevlians offered her a political marriage with their Leader. They
believed that they could easily subdue a woman in such a poor circumstances who
was vulnerable after her husband’s death . She pretended that she accepted an
offer and invited the Drevlian’s leaders for the wedding ceremony where she
ordered their execution. Olga remained regent till her son’s adulthood . She
changed the system of tax gathering and initiated the first legal reforms in Eastern
Europe. She continued to evade proposals of marriage and saved the throne for her
son Svatoslav. In the 950s, Olga traveled to Constantinople, the capital of the
Byzantine Empire, where she met Emperor Constantine VII and was converted to
the Christianity. After her return home she dedicated her life to spreading
Christianity. Olga is venerated as a saint by the Orthodox Church . She was
grunted a special title - the "Equal to the Apostles"