G.S. Lebedev's research is devoted to a topic little studied in Russian historical literature - the final stage of the transition of the peoples of Europe from a primitive communal system to a class society. It examines the main stages of Viking activity in Western Europe, shows the failure of the Norman constructions of Western historiography. For the first time, on specific data of history, archeology, numismatics and language, the importance of Ancient Russia for the internal development of the Scandinavian countries is revealed, the leading place of the Old Russian state in the international relations of the peoples of the Baltic region, the role of the Varangians in the history of Kievan Rus of the 9th-11th centuries is shown.