Wrong. Putin himself is not pure ethnic Russian/Slavic. His paternal DNA is Finnic. The historical origin of Russian is the Slavic tribes in present day Russia were constantly fighting with themselves and with Finnic tribes who were being pushed out of their lands by the Slavic tribes. The Slavic and Finnic tribes agreed to have the Vikings from Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia come to rule over both tribes.
The Rurik Dynasty: A Mixture Of Vikings And Slavs
There are several theories about the origins of the word Rus’, which subsequently was the name of a powerful emerging medieval state that eventually became modern-day Russia. Some scholars state that the name is ascribed to a certain “Rus” people from eastern coastal Sweden, specifically from the region of Roslagen. Others present the Proto-Finnic name for Sweden, Ruotsi, as the root, or the Norse word rods, which simply meant “men who row.”
However, there is a far simpler explanation that emerges as a distinct possibility. That is the Proto Slavic word rusъ, from the older word *rudsъ, both meaning “fair, blonde, fair haired.” There is no doubt that the Swedish Vikings were largely blonde, which is the possible origin of their name in Slavic languages.
The Rurik dynasty gets its name from a Viking chieftain named Rurik. The date for the dynasty’s founding is 862 AD, when Rurik headed the important trading center of Ladoga (Staraya). Rurik founded the town of Novgorodin that same year. He came to the lands of the Slavs apparently at their own behest, to rule over them.
Rurik didn’t arrive on his own: he came with his two brothers at his side. The three of them established their rule in three different towns, but soon after both of Rurik’s brothers died, and he took over their lands and consolidated his rule, laying the foundations of the early medieval state that was to be known as Kievan Rus’.
Back to Unity: The Ruriks At The Head Of An Empire
One of the most famous rulers of the Rurikid dynasty was without a doubt Ivan the Terrible, who reigned from 1547 to 1584 AD. For it was under Ivan’s rule that the Rurik dynasty once more sat at the head of a unified state. During his rule, a centralized Russian state emerged, transforming from the medieval period state into a state headed by a tsar. Ivan the Terrible was the first tsar (emperor) of Russia, launching the Rurikids into a new era of prosperity. Thanks to him, the principalities that followed the Kievan Rus’, namely Vladimir-Suzdal, Moscow, Novgorod, and Kiev, were once more under “one roof.”
Alas, all good things must come to an end. One could argue that the fate of the Rurikid dynasty was sealed even when it got started in 862 AD, as great ruling dynasties often fall apart and disappear. After all, such is the nature of history.
Thus, it was that the Rurik dynasty ended with the death of Fyodor I the Bellringer, the last of the Rurikids, in 1598 AD. Following this, the Romanov family took the throne in 1613 AD.
However, numerous descendants of the Rurik dynasty still live today, as members of numerous extant sub-branches. Some of the families that still exist today and trace their lineage to “Rurik stock” are princes Kropotkin, Shakhovskoy, Gorchakov, Obolensky, and others. The wheel of time might have cast them to many different parts of the world, but their family trees cannot be disputed, They are all connected by blood to that opportunist Viking chieftain from the late ninth century AD, Rurik.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-europe/rurik-dynasty-0014668
