From an historic standpoint there is good reason that Scandinavian men are attracted to hot Russian brides, they are their distant relatives.

Vikings Had a Bad Image

When most people think of Vikings they have a picture of large men with blonde hair, who plunder, and sack peaceful villages. In reality, the Norsemen were mostly traders.  Many chiefs would rather trade than fight. They found the rivers of Eastern Europe, which flow north and south, great trade routes to travel between the Baltic and Black Seas.

The Rus

In the 9th century, Viking tribes called the Rus established a trading center near Lake Ilmen close to the headwaters of the Dvina, Dnieper and Volga rivers. All three rivers flow into major bodies of water-the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Though not Slavs, the Rus did give Russia her name. The Rus trade routes and establishment of towns along those routes laid the groundwork for the Russian nation as we know it today.

Trade King

Oleg, a Viking chief, took the village of Kiev in 882 and makes it his capital. In 911 he signs a trade treaty with the Byzantine Empire. With gold, clothes, wine, fruits from the Greeks; silver and horses from the Czechs and Hungarians; furs, wax, honey and slaves from the Rus', Kiev became the center of trade in Eurasia.

 
Here come the Russians

By the 10th century the Vikings have been in Russia for nearly 200 years. When in 980 a Viking king, Vladimir is proclaimed prince of all Russia, after his capture of Kiev from a rival, these Vikings were now something different. They were Russians.

Sinner to Saint

Vladimir celebrated his new power with much wine, much song and many, many women. Some historians say he bedded nearly 800 women.

Eight years later knowing his kingdom needs an identity, he sends emissaries to find the best religion in the world. They report back that Greek Orthodox Christianity is the best. So from that moment on, the Orthodox Church becomes as part of the Russian identity. Vladimir is now regarded as a saint in the Russian Church.

 
Common Ancestors

Vladimir’s royal line rule continued down the centuries. The great Russian Czars and leaders share a common history and blood line with England, Iceland, Greenland and Northern Europe. Yes, the blood of hard-living, intelligent traders known as Vikings.

With such a strong pedigree is it any wonder that Russian ladies are attracted to their long, distant cousins, the men of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland?