Sviatopolk I of Kiev

The humble beginnings of the Rus’ lands were represented by a series of regional communities held together by the commerce of trade and a generally lackadaisical sense of order. However, over time the political structure of Rus’ arrived with the unifying nature of Christianity, brought upon by Vladimir the Great. It is clear, due to both the coincidence of the Church’s increased presence with a new Russian identity and the terminology used in various records, that Rus’ was indeed a unified political