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The original Rus were Varangian, Scandinavian colonists. All the early leaders of both Kievan Rus and Novgorod were Germanic including Rurik and Oleg.
This begs the question of why Germanic colonists were successful in imposing their culture and language in Anglo-Saxon England but not in Russia?
Was it "Norman syndrome," e.g. Were the colonists overwhelmingly male and did they marry local, more numerous, Slavs?
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