About the book: 2003 / In the book of the famous historian A.G. Kuzmin makes an attempt to look at the controversial issues of the beginning of Rus' through the prism of the entire ethnopolitical development of Eastern and Central Europe. In the foreground are issues such as the historical fate of the Slavs, the ethnic nature of the Varangians, the relationship between the Slavs, Varangians, Rus', the specific conditions for the emergence of the state of Russia in Eastern Europe. The study is based on extensive source study, linguistic, ethnographic and archaeological material, toponymic and onomastic data are used , anthropology and other disciplines. A.G.’s strict scientific approach is organically combined. Kuzmin with journalistic passion, and the author pays special attention to the debate between Normanists and anti-Normanists that has been going on for 250 years. The book is published in the author's edition.