I recently came across two interesting statements regarding the city of Kiev and Russia. They are:
"A Russian nation without Kiev is a sad Russia." and "Kiev is like the childhood home of the Russian nation."
I was curious what exactly these statements meant, so I checked up on Kiev a little bit. It seems it was founded by Vikings. (Or so I'm assuming. The source I read said it was founded by "Varangians." When I hear Varangian, I think of the Byzantine Empire's Varangian Guard, which was mostly Scandinavians.) Since the nation that grew around Kiev was called "Rus", I'm assuming it's somehow related to the country of Russia. However, Rus seemed to fall to the Mongols several centuries before Russia the nation existed.
I have a vague understanding of why the Russians may see it as their "childhood home", but could someone explain it more thoroughly to me? I'm wondering if it's similar to the way both the French and Germans consider Charlemagne to be the founder of their nations and descended from the Carolingian Empire, despite France and Germany not having technically existed at the time the Empire did.
Several nations claim to inheritance to the Kievan Rus. The Vikings did indeed sail down through Russia's many rivers and settle in several areas, Kievan Rus being the most well known. Although it is debated whether the founders were Slavs or Varangians (I imagine it was both). It was perhaps the first powerful state in that part of Eastern Europe. The Rus kingdom spread beyond modern day Ukraine and into modern Russia, thus both nations can claim successorship from Kievan Rus.
The principalities set up by the Kievan Rus were largely left intact by the Mongols. Muscovy rose to prominence under the Mongols and it is this principality, under the Grand Duke of Moscovy, Ivan (later the Terrible) that united the others and finally defeated the Horde, making way for the Russian Empire. (http://russiapedia.rt.com/russian-history/early-days/) (http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Kievan.html)