In a nutshell the debate:

Those who say they are Vikings note what?

• The Primary chronicle (written centuries after the events it describes) has the "Slovens" (a tribe around Novgorod Velikiy) call "these Varangians, who were called the 'Rus', just like others were called 'Swedes' and other ones 'Northmen' and 'Angles' and other ones 'Goths'" "from beyond the Sea" to rule over their lands.

• The Varangian names transmitted in the Russian language (f.e.'Askold') and in Greek (f.e.'Helga') and Khazar (f.e.'Hlgu') transcription also seem to be Scandinavian and there are around a hundred runic inscriptions (though not necessarily in the Scandi language) discovered in Russia (see works on inscriptions by the archeologist Tamara Anatolyevna Pushkina.)

• The Finnish term for Swedes is "Ruotsi". "Russians", on the other hand, are called by a term derived from the same Germanic root as "Welsh" and "Wales"

The Anti-Normanist theory also has some very good evidence:

• Photius I (9th century) mentions a tribe called the "Vargs" related to the Prussians and Wends and living on the Vistula.

• While some names identified as Varangian sound Nordic others can be identified as Persian, Turkic, Slavic, Finnish and, well, anything BUT Scandinavian (e.g. Ayfar, Leanti, Esuli)

• Russian dukes would never interfere in Scandinavian politics. It seems they had more interests and more relationships with Hungary, Poland, the steppe.

• there are letters and inscriptions in Turkic, low German, in dialects of Slavic which can't be assigned to any living groups, in Hebrew and in many other languages remaining from early Russia. One thing we can say for certain is: the Rus weren't racists or ethnocentrists and used in their legalese Germanic terms (e.g. "Vira") along with Turkic terms (e.g. "Kagan") while swearing by the Slavic Gods when signing treaties. It seems they cannot be assigned as easily to any modern ethnic group as it was done by Hitler during his diatribe on Russia in "Mein Kampf".

edit: however, if you take "viking" for the description of their vocation rather than their ethnic group then yes, indeed, the Rus as described by the pre-11th century Persians and Greeks were, basically, vikings to them. Or: ruthless pagan robbers sailing on long boats somewhere from the North.

Vikings didn't found Russia.

Vikings may found Rus, which is totally different entity. Like Romania and Rome.