Riurik and Oleg

Riurik is named as the first leader of Russia according to Russian folk lore. He led the Varangians, a Scandinavian group who took the city of Novgorod in 862. Oleg, Riurik's successor used Novgorod as a base to extend his power southward, capturing the city of Kiev in 882. With Oleg, for the first time, a unified dynastic state existed in the Russian area.