A Contribution to Understanding the Notion of Rus’/Rus’ land in pre-Mongol Eastern Europe

Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 2026. Vol. 96. No. Supplement 3. P. 178–188.

Stefanovich P.

Translator: D. Sventsitsky

The paper provides a review of various interpretations of the concept of rus’/Rus’ land currently
debated in contemporary scholarship. Defining the meaning of this concept is of fundamental importance
for understanding the earliest period of East Slavic statehood, spanning from the 9th to the mid-13th century.
The study demonstrates that the concept of “Old Russian nationality” (drevnerusskaya narodnost’), widely
accepted in Soviet historiography, has come under significant criticism. Today, researchers propose interpreting
the rus’ as a socionym, a confessionym, or a politonym. Synthesizing data from a diverse range of
sources, the author concludes that the primary substance of this concept was, in fact, ethnic. Nevertheless,
alternative approaches raised in recent scholarship require a revision of several core tenets of the Old Russian
nationality theory.

Keywords: идентичность, identity, Древняя Русь, Old Rus’, ethnic history, этническая история, Rus’ land, Русская земля

Publication based on the results of: Language, literature and culture in historical and social perspective (2025)