The bell "Rurik"

Rurik is the chronicled founder, according to the Norman theory, of the statehood of Russia. Varyag, the prince of Novgorod and the ancestor of the royal dynasty of Rurikovich, who ruled Russia for more than 700 years. According to the "Tale of Bygone Years" in 862, the Varangian king Rurik was called "by the Chud, Vesya, Slovenes and Krivichi", "from the Varangians" (from the Rus tribe), "to reign and rule over them." This event, from which the beginning of the statehood of the Eastern Slavs is traditionally counted, has received a conditional name in historiography — the Vocation of the Varangians. The chronicler called the reason for the invitation the civil strife that engulfed the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes living in the Novgorod lands. During the reign of Rurik, the lands of the Merya, all and Murom tribes were annexed to the lands of the Slavs, which formed a single state. Oleg, Rurik's successor, organized a campaign to the south, which ended with the conquest of Kiev, which since 882 became the center of the united Ancient Russian state.