Dialogue with Mykyta Sichen About Rus' and Ukraine (02.11.2022)
An extensive dialogue between Vitalii Dribnytsia and blogger Mykyta Sichen — a selection of viewers’ questions about Rus’ and Ukraine. Among the segments examined: Rus’ in the narrow chronicle sense according to Rybakov, the “Rurikid dynasty” as a later construct, the verification threshold for the princes, the linguistic analysis of birch-bark documents according to Yanin, and the refutation of Pogodin’s theory of the “migration of Rus’ to the north.” The material complements the analyses “Kyivan Rus’ Never Existed” and “How Rus’ Became Russia.”
Key moments
- 20:48 Rybakov (1972 article): >700 uses of 'Rus'' in the narrow sense are localized on the territory of modern Ukraine
- 38:55 The 'Rurikid dynasty' is a later invention: absent from the chronicle, the name 'Rurik' rare in the line
- 41:39 The verification threshold: Rurik cannot be verified; Ihor onward — by parallel sources
- 53:55 Yanin (Moscow State University): analysis of birch-bark documents showed that the older they are, the more the dialects differed
- 55:30 Novgorod could have become a fourth Slavic ethnos; this was halted by its annexation to Moscow in 1471
- 09:12 Pogodin's theory (early 19th century) that 'Rus' moved north' is refuted by archaeology and genetics