(Based on materials from V. Artemov and M. Magomedov.)
It is believed that the campaign of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav against the Khazar Khaganate in 965-967 ended in the complete defeat of Khazaria.

But is this true?
At the dawn of the Middle Ages, Rus' had many enemies - Avars, Varangians, Pechenegs, Polovtsians. . . But for some reason, none of these tribes causes such heated controversy as the Khazars. In the light of centuries-old scientific disputes, this problem, which has sunk into antiquity, looks very ambiguous. Probably because the Khazars were the first truly serious external enemy of Kievan Rus. So serious that the very fact of its existence was called into question.
In the middle of the 7th century AD. e. when Eastern Slavs hasn't happened yet single state, on the ruins of the Turkic Khaganate in the Lower Volga region and the eastern part North Caucasus The Khazar Khaganate arose.
The Khazars, descendants of the ancient Indo-European population of Western Eurasia, representing the Turkic and partly Finno-Ugric branch, lived in the lower reaches of the Terek until the 3rd century. In the 3rd century, they conquered the shores of the Caspian Sea (Terek and Volga Khazaria) from the Sarmatians. In the 4th-5th centuries they were part of the Great Turkic Khaganate and fought against Byzantium and Iran. They also collected tribute from other neighbors - the Slavs.
However, the role of a constant source of tribute and “living goods” did not suit Khazaria Slavic tribes. Even before the advent of Judaism, their wars with the Khazars continued, flaring up and dying out, with varying success. At the turn of the 8th-9th centuries, princes Askold and Dir freed the glades from the Khazar tribute. In 884, Prince Oleg achieved the same for the Radimichi. Svyatoslav’s father, Igor, also waged a fierce fight against the Kaganate.
Well aware of the strength and influence of the enemy, the Kiev prince Svyatoslav in 964 led a strong, well-armed and trained army from various tribes against the Khazars: Polyans and Northerners, Drevlyans and Radimichi, Krivichi and Dregovichi, Ulichs and Tivertsi, Slovenians and Vyatichi. It took many years of effort to form such an army. The campaign began from the lands of the Vyatichi - the ancestors of the current Muscovites, Tveryaks, and Ryazans, who paid tribute to the Kaganate and did not submit to the authority of the Kyiv prince.
Having climbed the Desna through the land of the northerners, subject to Kyiv, Svyatoslav in the spring of 964 moved to the upper reaches of the Oka. On the way to Khazaria, he managed to demonstrate military power and through diplomacy to win a bloodless victory over the Vyatichi. With their help, boats were cut down for the squad on the Oka, and in the spring of the next year, having enlisted the support of the Pechenegs, who brought huge herds of horses to the prince, Svyatoslav went out to the Wild Field.
Everyone who knew how to stay in the saddle was taken into the equestrian squads. The foremen and centurions accustomed the recruits to military formation. The prince sent a messenger to the Khazars with a laconic message: “I’m coming to you!”
Previously, the Russians went to the Khazars along the Don and Sea of ​​Azov. Now the foot army was descending on boats along the Oka. She had a long and difficult journey ahead of her to the lower reaches of the Volga, where the Khazar capital Itil, fortified with stone walls, stood on the islands. The horse squads took the direct route, through the Pecheneg steppes. On the way, the Pecheneg princes joined them.
Volga Bulgaria, a vassal to the Khazars, was the first to fall under the sword of Svyatoslav, its army was defeated and scattered, the capital of the Bulgars and other cities were conquered. The same thing happened to the Burtases, allies of the Khazars. Now the border of the Kaganate from the north was open. In July 965 Russian army appeared on the northern borders of the Khazar possessions.
The decisive battle took place near the Khazar capital - Itil, at the throat of the Volga, which flows into the Caspian Sea. At the head of the army, Kagan Joseph himself came out to meet Svyatoslav. He showed himself to his subjects only in exceptional cases. And this case was exactly like that.
His army was built according to the Arab model - in four lines. The first line - "Morning of the Barking Dogs" began the battle, showering enemies with arrows to disrupt their ranks. The Black Khazars who entered it did not wear armor, so as not to hamper their movements, and were armed with bows and light darts.

Behind them stood the white Khazars - heavily armed horsemen in iron breastplates, chain mail and helmets. Long spears, swords, sabers, clubs and battle axes constituted their weapons. This selected heavy cavalry of the second line, called "Day of Relief", fell upon the mingled ranks of the enemy under a shower of arrows. If the blow did not bring success, the cavalry spread out to the sides and let the third line forward - “Evening of Shock.” At command, her infantrymen dropped to one knee and covered themselves with shields. They rested the spear shafts on the ground, pointing the tips towards the enemy. The fourth line is behind, at some distance. This is a reserve - the hired horse guard of the Kagan called "Banner of the Prophet". 12 thousand Muslim Arsians, clad in shining armor, entered the battle in exceptional cases, when it was necessary to turn the tide of the battle. In the city itself, a foot militia was preparing for battle, realizing for the first time that the authorities did not need their money, but their lives. And if they lose, they will have neither one nor the other. . .
However, Arab tactics did not help Joseph. The axes of the Russians cut down almost to the roots both “Dog Barking” and everything else. The plain under the walls of Itil was strewn with corpses and wounded. Kagan Joseph, in a dense ring of mounted Arsii, rushed to break through. Having lost most of the guards, he escaped pursuit in the steppe under cover of darkness. . .
The Slavs burned the fallen and celebrated victory! The enemy was defeated, the Russian army ravaged the capital of the Kaganate at the mouth of the Volga and obtained rich trophies.
Later the city was plundered and burned by the Pechenegs. The surviving townspeople and the remnants of the troops fled to the deserted islands of the Caspian Sea. But the winners had no time for them. Svyatoslav's army headed south - to the ancient capital of the Kaganate, Semender (not far from modern Makhachkala). The local ruler had his own army. Svyatoslav defeated and scattered this army, captured the city, and forced the ruler and his associates to flee to the mountains.
From there, as always, scattering patrols everywhere to track the spies in order to suppress news of his movement, the commander led the army into the endless Kuban steppes. And he showed up already near the Black Sea. At the sole Caucasus Mountains, having subdued the Yasses and Kasogs with an iron hand, he immediately took the Khazar fortress of Semikar. And soon he reached the cities blocking the Sea of ​​Azov - Tmutarakan and Korchev (Taman and Kerch). The Russians took the cities, destroying the Khazar governors, who were not very revered by the townspeople. This is how the future Russian Tmutarakan principality was founded.
Then Svyatoslav turned north, leaving the Byzantine possessions in Crimea untouched in the rear. He went to Sarkel - the White Tower, or White City, whose fortress walls, made of large bricks, were designed by Byzantine engineers.
Two towers, the tallest and most powerful, stood behind the inner wall, in the citadel.
The low cape on which Sarkel was located was washed on three sides by the waters of the Don, and on the fourth - eastern side - two deep ditches filled with water were dug. After the defeat at Itil, Kagan Joseph fled here.
Waiting for the approach of the Russian warriors, the Pechenegs surrounded the fortress with a ring of composed and tied with belts carts and began to wait - after all, they themselves did not know how to take a fortress by storm. In the autumn of 967, Svyatoslav’s army sailed to Sarkel along the Don on numerous boats. The assault was sudden and fleeting. . . According to legend, Kagan Joseph threw himself from the citadel tower to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy. Sarkel was burned and then literally wiped off the face of the earth.
Having stationed small squads in the occupied lands, Svyatoslav returned to Kyiv. Thus ended his three-year Khazar campaign. And the final defeat of the Khazar Kaganate was completed by Prince Vladimir at the end of the 10th century.
This is exactly how events developed - and this is the opinion of many modern historians. But there are other studies.
According to Murad Magomedov, professor, doctor of historical sciences and head of the department of history of Dagestan, Dagestan state university, there was no defeat of Khazaria by Prince Svyatoslav.

Photo - “WHO DESTROYED KHAZARIA?”
Domestic archaeologists were silent for a long time about the scientist’s discoveries, which had long been recognized abroad. Yes, Svyatoslav made numerous campaigns, including to Byzantium, but Professor Magomedov proves that the Kiev prince did not destroy Khazaria.
He believes that Russian chronicles confirm the capture by the Kyiv prince only of the fortress on the Don, which was called Sarkel. That's all. The scientist believes that Svyatoslav never reached the Khazar capital - the city of Itil, which continued to be the largest until the beginning of the 14th century. shopping center, where goods arrived from Europe, the Middle East and even China.
According to Professor Magomedov and some other experts, the Khazar Kaganate existed until the 13th century and played a huge role not only in the history of the peoples that were once part of it, but also Rus', and even Europe as a whole, and did not cease to exist in the 10th century.
As is known, at first there was a Turkic Khaganate, spread over a vast territory from the Caspian Sea to Pacific Ocean. Then it split into two parts - Eastern and Western. From numerous written sources it follows that the Khazars were the rulers of the Western Turkic Khaganate. And when strife began there, they went to the territory of what is now coastal Dagestan and created their own state here - the Khazar Kaganate. The latter also occupied vast territories, northern borders which took place within the modern Voronezh region, in the area of ​​​​the Mayatskoye settlement.
At that time, Rus' did not yet exist as a single state, and the Russian princes were constantly at enmity with each other, everyone fought against everyone. Many of them paid tribute to the Khazars for quite a long time. Even by the name of the Potudan River flowing in those places - that is, “on the other side of the tribute” - it is clear that it was the border between the Slavs living south of the river, in Khazaria, and north of it, who did not pay tribute. And yet, it was the Khazars, who fought with the Arabs for about a hundred years, who stopped their movement to the North and probably protected Rus' and Europe from the Arab invasion.
The wars of the Khazars with the Arabs began in the middle of the 7th century and continued until the middle of the 8th century, this is known from numerous written sources. Then part of the Khazars, under the pressure of the Arabs, was forced to retreat to the Volga and beyond. But the Khazar Kaganate continued to exist as a state, and its collapse began only in the middle of the 10th century.
Khazaria began to weaken, and then Svyatoslav captured the Belaya Vezha fortress. But, as Professor Magomedov believes, he did not go further. The Kaganate continued to exist until the middle of the 13th century, when its capital Itil, due to a rise in the level of the Caspian Sea by 10 meters, found itself on the seabed. After this, the Khazars settled partially in the North Caucasus, in the Crimea. . .
When excavations began in Primorsky Dagestan, many Khazar burials, objects of material culture (weapons, utensils, coins, ceramics) and even the remains of the fortress walls of Semender, which once stretched from the slopes of Mount Tarki-Tau to the seashore, were discovered. Now the fact of the discovery of Khazar cities has already been recognized throughout the scientific world, including by the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
As for Itil, according to the scientist, it was located in the area of ​​​​the current island of Chistaya Banka in the northern part of the Caspian Sea. And today, from a bird's eye view, you can see the remains of the fortress walls and buildings located under water. The professor claims that today all the capitals of Khazaria, the features of the material and spiritual culture of the Kaganate are known. There is a lot of evidence that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam coexisted peacefully in Khazaria, spreading in a common field pagan beliefs. . .
One way or another, Professor Magomedov’s research, if it did not refute the short history of the existence of Khazaria, made many scientists think about the inviolability of the version of the complete defeat of Khazaria in the 10th century.

We know very little about the Khazars: they were neighbors of the Eastern Slavs, and also that “the Prophetic Oleg is going to take revenge on the foolish Khazars” (a line from the famous “Song of the Prophetic Oleg” by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin). Let's try to expand our knowledge about this people.

In the middle of the seventh century new era a new state appears called the Khazar Kaganate (Khazaria). It was created by nomads (Khazars). Khazaria controlled vast territories (eastern Crimea, Ciscaucasia, northwestern Kazakhstan, Middle and Lower Volga region and many others).

How and under what conditions did the first meeting of the Khazars and Slavs take place in world history?

In the seventh century, the Slavic tribes had good opportunity for the development and settlement of the southern regions (surroundings of the Don). In the southeast, power belonged to the Khazars, and for a long time. And they, in turn, wanted to increase their possessions at the expense of western lands. It is known that in the fifth century they lived next door to the Bulgarians, whom they began to persecute. It is difficult to say where these nomadic tribes came from. However, there is an assumption that they are related to the Turks. And one historian suggested that the Khazars were Slavs.

But let’s return to the interaction of the peoples who met. As a result, there was some kind of clash between the Slavs and the Khazars, but it was completely peaceful and was not accompanied by casualties on either side.

Neighborhood of Slavs and Khazars

In the seventh century, the Khazars began to represent themselves powerful force in the southeast. This allowed them to enter into confrontation with the Arabs. But the fact that these peoples dominated the southeastern steppes had an impact on the life of the Slavs. Firstly, they were a kind of protection against attacks from the east on the Slavic tribes of other nomads. Secondly, the Slavs, who mastered the steppes, became friendly with the Khazars. This made it possible for the first to colonize the lands of Khazaria, which were under the rule of the Khazar Kagan. According to one of the ancient authors, the Slavs inhabited the capital of Khazaria, and even served in the army. In general, the Slavs and Khazars lived peacefully, even cooperating in trade.

That is, it turns out that the Slavic tribes, being Khazar neighbors, were in their power. In addition, the Slavs paid tribute to the Khazars. For example, according to the chronicle, it is known that they were Polyans, Radimichi, Vyatichi, and Northerners. The fact is that these tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs lived in close proximity to the Khazar Kaganate. The tribute was not too burdensome for the Slavs. Moreover, it was a kind of payment for protection. And we will not find evidence that the Slavs tried with all their might to get rid of it.

We can say that the Khazar kagan was their sovereign. In general, there was a political dependence of the Slavs. But this was the case until Prince Oleg came (at the end of the ninth century). Now the Slavic tribes that were subordinate to the Khazars pay tribute to him. But the final liberation of the Slavs (Vyatichi) occurred under Prince Svyatoslav, who “finished off” Khazaria in 965.

So what was the significance of the proximity of the Eastern Slavs to the Khazars? It would probably be correct to say that it was mutually beneficial. The Slavs, although they were under the rule of the Khazars and paid tribute, in return received protection from attacks from the east.

Georgy Sidorov about the essence of the Khazar project.

Khazaria was one of external factors, which contributed to the unification of disparate Slavic tribes into a centralized state.
The borders of the Khazar Khaganate in the west extended to the Dnieper and Middle Volga, in the north - to the Trans-Volga steppes, in the east - to Khorezm, in the south - included the steppes of the North Caucasus and Crimea. The population of Khazaria included Turkic, Iranian, Slavic and paleo-Caucasian peoples, as well as Jewish communities of the Crimea and the Caucasus. At the end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century, the Khazars adopted Judaism. The Polan, Radimichi and Northern tribes paid them tribute.
Khazar yoke. Historians have long debated what the influence of the Khazar Khaganate was on the Eastern Slavs. Some hold a negative view of nomads and argue that the Slavic tribes had to wage a long-term struggle with them, which negatively affected economic development Rus'. Others note that the Khazars were protectors of trade routes in the Lower Volga, ensuring Slavic colonization and trade with the countries of the South and East. Still others see in the Khazars a “protective wall” of Eastern Europe from the “Asian hordes.” And today heated debates continue, but most modern researchers admit that the Slavs turned out to be “natural allies of the Khazars,” and their power objectively “contributed to the strengthening of Rus'.”
"I am their enemy!" The state created by Prince Oleg became a powerful competitor to the Khazar Khaganate in Eastern Europe. It can be assumed that at the turn of the 9th-10th centuries there was a military conflict between the Khazars and Rus'. We find echoes of this confrontation in the news of the Tale of Bygone Years, where it is reported that in 884 Oleg appropriated the Khazar tribute of the northerners, declaring: “I am their enemy, and you have no need to pay them.” A year later, he liberated the Radimichi from the Khazar yoke. The chronicle does not say how the Khaganate responded to this: the compiler of The Tale of Bygone Years relied on Russian oral traditions and a Byzantine chronograph.

Difficult years of Khazarin. Khazaria was going through difficult times at this time. Her relations with Byzantium constantly deteriorated. At the same time, steppe nomadic tribes sought to get out from under Khazar influence. From the east, the Khazars began to push back the Pechenegs. At the end of the 9th century, having secured an alliance with the Oguzes, the Kaganate defeated them in the area between the Volga and Ural rivers. However, this did not make his situation easier, since the Pechenegs broke through his lands into the Northern Black Sea region, where they defeated the Hungarians, who were allies of the Khazars. Oleg's opposition to the Khazar Kaganate naturally attracted him to a rapprochement with the Byzantine Empire.

To enlarge the map image, click on the map

The “Elementary Russian Chronicle” brings to us snippets of information about the history and life of the Slavic tribes that populated the Bryansk region.
Thus, the article about the events of 859 says: “The Varangians from overseas collected tribute from the Chuds, and from the Slovenians, and from the Meris, and from the Krivichi. And the Khazars took from the glades, and from the northerners, and from the Vyatichi, a silver coin and a squirrel from the smoke (that is, from the hearth).” Thus, we see that the Vyatichi and northerners were dependent on the Khazar Khaganate, large state, created by nomads on the banks of the Volga.
Khazaria was ruled by the Khagan, whose title was later sometimes used Kyiv princes. The Khazars professed Judaism, religion Old Testament, the first part of the Bible.
Meanwhile, the union of Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes, which included the Krivichi, expelled the Viking Varangians and stopped paying them tribute.
(According to another version, the Varangians came from the coast of the Baltic Sea, related to the Slavic tribes (until the 18th century in Russia the Baltic Sea was called the Varangian).
However, the liberated tribes plunged into internecine wars, and in order to stop the strife, the Varangians had to be called upon again.

So Rurik became the prince of Novgorod, marking the beginning of the first Russian princely dynasty. Prince Oleg (Prophetic Oleg, sung by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin), who succeeded Rurik, captured Kyiv, where the Varangians had also ruled before him, and began to collect the lands of the Slavs around Kyiv and the trade route “From the Varangians to the Greeks.” That is, to create a Russian state, because the Varangians were then called “Rus” (as Nestor the chronicler also calls them). But here Oleg’s interests collided with the Khazar ones (remember, prophetic Oleg Pushkin “took revenge on the foolish Khazars”). The Khazar tributaries in this case, like Radimichi, resignedly agreed to give the Khazar to Oleg, but in another, like the northerners, they persisted: “In the year 884. He went against the northerners, and defeated the northerners, and imposed a light tribute on them, and ordered them to pay tribute to the Khazars, saying: “I am their enemy” and why should you (pay them)?

The alliance with Prince Oleg brought benefit and glory to the Radimichi and northerners. We find squads sent by these tribes in the huge army with which Oleg in 907 besieged the capital of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire, Constantinople (the Slavs called it Constantinople, the city of the Caesar-Tsars, that is, the Byzantine emperors). The Byzantines (the Russian inventory calls them Greeks, because they spoke Greek, but the Byzantines themselves called them Romans-Romans) did not fight - and paid off with a rich tribute, part of which Oleg’s allies also received. In 911, the campaign was repeated, and the Greeks undertook to pay tribute to a number of cities, including Chernigov, separately from Kyiv.
Traces of Rus', the Viking-Varangians, who came with Oleg and after him, can be found in our area. These are numerous silver coins, a favorite prey of the Vikings. (The Vikings considered coins to be the embodiment of good luck. It could help a Varangian during his lifetime, and may be needed after death - that’s why coins were buried in the ground) These are the remains of weapons and clothing found in the modern Starodub region, as well as traces of the settlement of the Rus-Varangians (the village of Levenka ) on the way of the “Big Polyudye”. The fortification had a round shape. The Chashin Kurgan settlement on the territory of Bryansk dates back to the end of the 11th century, which also resembles the fortresses that were built in large quantities Danish Viking kings, starting in the 9th century.

Chashin Kurgan ancient settlement in Bryansk

Relatively not far from us, near Smolensk, there is one of the oldest Viking cemeteries in Europe (the village of Gnezdovo, on the site of which tribute was collected in favor of Kyiv), and in the famous mounds of Chernigov - “Black Grave” and “Gulbishche” - Viking weapons were found, already mixed with eastern, Khazar or Pecheneg, and horns wild bull aurochs, bound in silver, from which the Varangians drank honey and beer. But how could these sea wanderers sail past the Desna, which would lead them to the Khazar lands, rich in gold, silver and all sorts of goods?

The outstanding Russian artist Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich (No. 74-1947) was a great expert on antiquities. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, he personally conducted excavations of Slavic and Varangian burial mounds in northwestern Russia. The painting “Overseas Guests” is inspired by these excavations. It depicts Vikings sailing along one of the Russian rivers. No wonder our great fellow countryman, the poet Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy wrote in the 19th century:

I drink to the Varangians, to the dashing grandfathers,
Who raised Russian strength,
For whom our Kyiv is famous, for whom the Greek has calmed down,
For the blue sea that is theirs,
Noisy, brought from the sunset!

Finds from Chernigov burial mounds:
Oriental type helmet, Turya horns.
The background shows the stages of construction of the burial mound.
Weapons of Russian warriors of the late 10th century.
Danish sword from a settlement near the villages of Lyubozhichi - Monastery near Truchesky

After Oleg, Prince Igor ruled in Kyiv. When Igor died, instead of his young son Svyatoslav, the wise Princess Olga, the first Christian among the Russian princes, ruled. Svyatoslav, when he matured, decided to subjugate to his will the Vyatichi tribe, which had hitherto paid tribute to the Khazars.
The chronicle reports: “In the year 964. When Svyatoslav grew up..., he began to gather many brave warriors, and he was fast, like a pardus (a cheetah is one of the fastest animals), and he fought a lot.<...>And he sent them to other lands with the words: “I want to go against you.” And he went to the Oka River and the Volga, and met the Vyatichi, and said to the Vyatichi: “Who are you giving tribute to?” They answered: “We give the Khazars a shchelyag (small silver coin) per plow.”
In the year 965. Svyatoslav went against the Khazars. Having heard about this, the Khazars came out to meet them, led by their prince Kagan, and agreed to fight; in the battle Svyatoslav defeated the Khazars, and the capital<.. .>took it.<.. .>In the year 966. Svyatoslav defeated the Vyatichi and imposed tribute on them.” Svyatoslav died while returning from a long campaign across the Danube. At this time, the outlying Slavic tribes stopped paying Kyiv and some even started their own princely dynasties - “For example, there were such dynasties in Polotsk, Turov and, as modern scientists believe, in Chernigov among the northerners. Prince Vladimir, the future baptist of Rus', won the dynastic war and the saint had to restore the unity of the Russian land.

He began with the Vyatichi, once conquered by his father: "In the year 981<...>Vladimir won<...>Vyatichi and imposed tribute on them - from each plow, just as his father took it.
In the year 982. The Vyatichi rose up in war, and Vladimir went against them and defeated them a second time.” Apparently, the Vyatichi people liked to live freely, without owners from the banks of the Volga or Dnieper. Pacified by Vladimir, they will not defend their independence with arms in hand for a long time.
Following the Vyatichi, it was the turn of the Radimichi to defend freedom on the battlefield. The chronicle contains interesting information on this matter: “In the year 984. Vladimir went against the Radimichi. He had a governor, Wolf Tail; and Vladimir sent Wolf Tail ahead of him, and he met the Radimichi on the Pishchan River, and defeated the Radimichi Wolf Tail. That’s why the Russians tease the Radimichi, saying: “The Pischants are running from the wolf’s tail.”

Eastern Europe and the Khazar Khaganate

Khazaria in Eastern Europe dealt with the nomads of the steppe region, the peoples of the Volga region and the Eastern Slavs. Relations with them and the role of the Khazars in their historical destinies were different.

Let's start with the Volga region. This was an area important for Khazaria economically and military-strategically. Precious furs came from the country of the Burtases, as well as from more northern regions - one of the main items of trade transit to the East through Khazaria. Along the Volga there was also a trade route to the Baltic, which played a leading role throughout the entire period of the existence of the Khazar Kaganate. Control over the Lower and Middle Volga region was vital for Khazaria; it was here that Khazar outposts blocked the way for Trans-Volga nomads to Europe, primarily to the Khazar possessions, for more than 200 years. As long as Khazaria was capable of doing this, European countries needed it. The arrival of the Magyars in the southern Russian steppes in the 30s of the 9th century. was carried out with Khazar sanction for this, but the invasion of the Pechenegs in the 80s of the 9th century. happened against the will of Khazaria and meant that the latter lost its position in the Lower Volga region.

Apparently, the lower reaches of the Volga up to modern Volgograd or even higher were controlled by the Khazars themselves. Further to the north began the land of the Burtases, that is, the Finno-Ugric peoples, the ancestors of the Mordovians and related tribes. In Khazar times, tribal relations still prevailed among the Burtases, perhaps just beginning to be replaced by territorial-communal ones. According to Arab sources of the 9th-10th centuries, the country of the Burtases was located between Khazaria and Bulkar (i.e. Volga Bulgaria) at a distance of 15 days’ journey from Khazaria (obviously its capital Atil). In the flat part of the Lower Volga region, which, obviously, was not considered either Khazaria or Burtasia, there were apparently no permanent settlements.

The country of the Burtases was covered with forests. The Burtases were subservient to the Khazars, supplying auxiliary troops. Power was concentrated in the hands of the sheikhs, that is, obviously, the elders. Property differentiation existed among the Burtases, as can be seen from the description of their weapons, which were different for the rich and the poor. According to Gardizi, the country of the Burtases extended for 17 days of travel. The Burtases were engaged in forestry and cattle breeding; their main wealth consisted of valuable furs (“ad-dalak, dele”, literally “marten, ermine”). They were divided into two ethnographic groups, differing in funeral rites: some burned the dead, others buried them. The Burtases were dependent on Khazaria until the collapse of the Kaganate, and later began to fall under the rule of Volga Bulgaria and Rus'.

The only source about Bulgar-Khazar relations is Ibn Fadlan's Risale. An earlier source, preserved in the versions of Ibn Ruste, “Hudud al-alam”, Gardizi and Marwazi, does not report anything specific about this. Its data dates back to the 80s of the 9th century. (this is supported by the indication of the proximity of the Volga Bulgars and Magyars, which did not happen later). This source informs us about the division of the Bulgars into groups, gives a description of the nature of the country, the occupations of the population, religion, etc.

Our information about the political situation of Volga Bulgaria in the first quarter of the 10th century. boils down to the following. The king of the Bulgars at that time was Almush, the son of Shilka Baltavar, who also bore the Muslim name al-Hasan. He converted to Islam, apparently through the Muslims of the Khazar capital Atil, but was a vassal of Khazaria, paid tribute to the Khazar king (in furs), and his son Almush was a hostage in Atil. Apparently, the Khazar ruler treated his vassals rather unceremoniously. Having learned about the beauty of the daughter of the Bulgarian king. he wanted to take her into his harem and, when Almush refused him, he took her by force. When the princess died, the Khazar king demanded that her sister be given to him. The main thing, however, was not the personal insults. Apparently, Bulgaria had long been burdened by its dependence on the weakening Khazaria, where the Muslims of Atil were burdened by the king, who professed Judaism. Almush had accepted Islam, apparently, before this, but now, personally offended by the Khazarian king, he, at the instigation of the Khazar Muslims, decided to send an official embassy to Baghdad with a request for real help against Khazaria. Specifically, he asked to build a fortress for him, apparently on the southern borders of his state, most likely on the Volga at that time Bulgaria was a kind of federation of three possessions ("groups"), each of which had its own. The largest "vassal" of Almush was the king of Askala, one of the three main "Sinths" of Bulgaria. King Askala married the very daughter of Almush, whom the Khazar king wanted to take after the death of her sister. Islam had not yet taken any deep roots in. Bulgaria, even King Askala was not a Muslim. Almush asked the caliph to send him experienced preachers and theologians. The Bulgarian embassy included people of different nationalities, and the ambassador Abdallah ibn Bashtu was from the Khazar Muslims.

The embassy arrived in Baghdad via Central Asia in the spring of 921. It is curious that the Samanid vassal Khorezm Shah was hostile to the Bulgarian embassy and tried to interfere with it. Obviously, Khorezm had its own interests in Khazaria that did not coincide with the interests of Bukhara, which was inclined to support the Bulgar king and helped his embassy reach Baghdad and gain access to the caliph and his dignitaries. In Baghdad there were also people who had previously lived in Bulgaria - the Turk Tekin and the Slav Boris.

There is no need to describe the stay of the Caliph's embassy in Bulgar here. It did not give any real results. Distant Baghdad could not influence the situation in the Volga region. Apparently, the Bulgar king was in contact with some of the nomadic Ghuz leaders, but not with all. At the same time, the position of Khorezm was to play a decisive role in the failure of the Tsar of Bulgaria’s appeal to the Muslim states. True, in Khazaria, emboldened Muslims tried to express their solidarity with Bulgaria, but under these conditions, the Khazar king showed unusual fortitude and will: citing the destruction by Muslims of a synagogue in some Dar al-Babunaj, he destroyed the minaret in Atila and executed the muezzins. Meanwhile, the Caliph's embassy set off on its way back and in the spring of 923 returned to Baghdad. There, if they didn’t forget about him, they cared little about him. The Caliph and his entourage were much more interested in a huge fish recently caught in Oman: its size was so large that the jaw would not fit through the door.

Al-Mas'udi reports that the son of the Bulgarian king came to Baghdad to see Caliph al-Muqtadir (908-932) after Ibn Fadlan's embassy. The prince, in fact, went on hajj, but on the way he brought the caliph a sawad banner and money.

Were the Volga Bulgars freed from Khazar dependence as a result of the events of the 20s of the 10th century? There is no direct answer, but, apparently, dependence on Khazaria remained, although perhaps in a weaker form. The fact is that if the Khazars were interested in their power over Bulgaria, then the latter could not remain for a long time in a state of enmity with Khazaria, which dominated the lower reaches of the Volga. Trade interests have always required a certain unity of all inhabitants of the banks of a European river. And here the one who owned the mouth of the Volga dominated. Later, in the 12th century, control over it passed to the Bulgars, then to the Golden Horde, and in the 16th century. - to Russia. The annexation of Kazan inevitably entailed the capture of Astrakhan, although at that time there was no Russian population in the Lower Volga.

There is reason to believe that Volga Bulgaria became independent after the defeat of Khazaria by Svyatoslav in the 60s of the 10th century. In Arabic sources there are indications of the Rus' campaign against the Bulgars, however, as has been proven, we are talking about Danube Bulgaria, which Arab authors often confused with Volga Bulgaria. Considering the previous attempt of the Bulgars to throw off the Khazar yoke, one can, on the contrary, assume that the Volga Bulgars, if they were not allies of Rus', then, in any case, did not help the Khazars. The defeat of Atil by the Rus did not lead to the consolidation of the Rus in the Lower Volga, and, obviously, after their departure, it was the Volga Bulgaria that gradually extended its control over the entire Volga route.

During the period of the power of the Khaganate, the nomadic (and semi-nomadic) population of the steppes between the Don and the lower Danube was controlled by the Khazars, which was greatly facilitated by the position of the Khazars in the Crimea. Apparently, in the 8th century. Khazar fortifications arose on the Don and Seversky Donets, where the Khazars garrisoned among the old Iranian-speaking and Bulgar population, as well as, apparently, the Slavs who were moving here. Relations with the latter clearly played a big role, which, due to the paucity of sources, can be traced only in superficial strokes, mainly through the PVL.

Chronicler at the beginning of the 12th century. could only indicate which of the East Slavic “tribes” were subordinate to the Khazars, what this subordination consisted of and when it ceased. However, he did not know the latter about all the “tribes” that were once subject to the Khazars. There was no such news about the most important of them - the glades. Therefore, two variants of Khazarian-Polyanian relations were included in the chronicle. One, clearly representing a late patriotic legend, tells how the Khazars, having discovered glades on the (Kievan) mountains and forests, offered to pay them tribute. The glades did not object, but sent swords as tribute. Seeing them, the “elders of the Kazars” declared to their prince (most likely the king): “The tribute is not good, prince! We, with one side of our weapons, cut swords with one side, and these weapons were sharp with both sides, cutting a sword. in other countries, everything came to pass not from his own will, but from God’s command. Just as during the time of Pharavon, the king of Eupet, when he brought Moses before Pharavon, and the elder of Pharaoh decided: Behold, he wants to pacify the region of Eupet, just as it happened: the people of Eupet perished from Moses, and the first was working for them: they owned, and then they themselves owned; as they did: for the Kozars of the Russian princes fought until this day.” But even from this it is clear that the glades were for some time under the rule of the Khazars, from which they were liberated in 862 by the Varangians Askold and Dir (second option). There is much that is unclear in this news, which diverges from some other facts, primarily from the news about the embassy of the Khakan of the Ros in 838-839. and related events. It can be assumed that the glades were twice subjugated by the Khazars, but both times not for long.

As for the northerners, Radimichi and Vyatichi; then, according to the PVL, they were subject to the Khazars and the first two “tribes” got rid of Khazar rule under Oleg in 884-885, and the Vyatichi under Svyatoslav in the 60s of the 10th century.

The opinions of researchers about the date of the establishment of Khazar power over part of the Eastern Slavs, naturally, are not unambiguous and are based on assumptions. P. Safarik believed that the dominance of the Khazars reached the Dnieper and Oka around the last quarter of the 8th century. S. M. Soloviev simply states that the Slavs paid tribute to the Khazars in the second half of the 9th century. M. S. Grushevsky, citing the news of the PVL about the subjugation of part of the Slavs to the Khazars, believed that the glades could be subordinate to the Khagans in the second half of the 7th - first half of the 8th century. In his opinion, at least at the beginning of the 9th century. Kyiv was independent. Grushevsky believed that the Russian government organization originated in the south long before the 9th century, and this point of view is supported in many modern works.

In Russian historiography of the eve October Revolution a point of view was established about the positive role of the Khazars in the history of the Slavs, who were able, under conditions of Khazar dominance in the steppes, to settle east, within the borders of the Khazar state.

B. D. Grekov practically bypasses the problem of Slavic-Khazar relations, and pays very little attention to Khazaria itself. He went even further along the path of denying the role of Khazaria for history Rus IX-X centuries B. A. Rybakov, who in his latest works ignores the chronicle news about the dependence of the Slavs on the Khazars. The payment of tribute by the Vyatichi to the Khazars by the Rybakovs is commented on as a “travel tax.”

M.I. Artamonov’s assessment of Khazar-Slavic connections is basically correct, although there are some controversial points here. Artamonov proceeds from the fact that in the Middle Dnieper region in the VI-VII centuries. there was a unique culture, mainly of Sarmatian origin, genetically dating back to the pre-Hunnic era and related to the Saltovsk culture of the Seversky Donets and Middle Don. This culture perished as a result of the expansion of the Khazars to the west, and the region of the forest-steppe Dnieper region, liberated from the bearers of this culture, began to be settled by the Slavs who fell under the rule of the Khazars. These Slavs (glades) were liberated, according to Artamonov, from the Khazar power at the end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century.

S. A. Pletneva notes, in accordance with the testimony of the Russian chronicle, the fact that the Khazar tribute was imposed on the glades, northerners, and Vyatichi, believing that for the glades this situation did not last long, and when the Khazars “retreated from a strong and distant people,” they imposed tribute as compensation Radimichi.

S. A. Pletneva is an archaeologist, and I would like to receive additional material on this issue from archaeologists. Unfortunately, there is not much of it yet. In the latest archaeological literature, the problem of Slavic-Khazar relations is posed briefly and not very accurately even in relation to traditionally established facts. The general work "Archaeology of the Ukrainian SSR" indicates the subordination of the Slavs of the Dnieper left bank - the Northerners, Vyatichi and Radimichi - to the Khazars, but completely avoids the issue of the glades. The thesis about the lag of these Slavs in their development precisely because of their subordination to Khazaria is completely a priori. The authors attribute to the chronicles news of Svyatoslav’s campaign against the northerners and their fall away from the Khazar Kaganate at that time, etc.

In foreign historiography, Khazar-Slavic relations before the formation Old Russian state are usually touched on briefly. P. Golden believes that the Eastern Slavs in the events of the 9th century. played a modest role, since they were tributaries of the Kaganate. In the works of O. Pritsak, the role of the Khazars in the destinies of the Slavs is exaggerated: they are credited with the founding of Kyiv, and later the establishment of the Khazar dynasty in Kyiv (with Igor), etc.

As we see, the situation with the study of Slavic-Khazar relations is complex - both due to the fragmentation and specificity of the sources, and partly due to the tendentious approach of individual historians.

It is necessary to make one fundamental reservation: Slavic-Khazar relations can and should be studied not on their own, but in close connection with the events that took place on the northwestern borders of the Khazar state. If we manage to somewhat correctly reconstruct the historical events that took place here in the 7th-9th centuries, we will receive an adequate picture of Slavic-Khazar relations and their stages.

During the formation of the Khazar power in the 7th century. in the vast territory east of the Dnieper and up to the Don, important, although poorly perceptible, changes took place. The departure of the Bulgar horde of Asparukh to the Balkans was obviously associated not only with pressure on it from the Khazars, but also with the intensive movement of the Slavic population into the forest-steppe zone on the left bank of the Dnieper at that time, which by the 8th century. came out, merging with part of the Iranian-speaking population of these areas, towards the Don. Apparently, this advance went through the lands of the northerners who were forming at that time (the basins of the Desna, Seim and Verkhnyaya Suda rivers) to the Seversky Donets and further to the Don itself. To the south lived the bearers of the so-called Saltovo-Mayak culture, among whom the same Iranians and the Bulgars who remained here ethnically predominated. The area of ​​their settlements became an integral part of the Khazar state; along its borders the Khazars erected their border fortifications. Ethnically close to the population of the main part of the Kaganate, the “Saltovo people” became the support of the Khakan in the north-west.

As for the Slavs, then, obviously, one should agree in principle with those researchers who argued that the formation of the Khazar state created favorable conditions for their resettlement to the east. It is possible that the Slavs in the 7th-8th centuries. became natural allies of the Khazars in the area.

It seems that the already mentioned events of 737, when Merwan ibn Muhammad pursued the Khazar troops after the capture of the Khazar capital Samandara, are connected with this. Khakan had to retreat to the northwest, to areas where there were material and human reserves. Perhaps this was the practice of luring the enemy deep into foreign territory, so famous in different periods history of many peoples.

Mervan’s capture of several thousand families, among which the Slavs are especially noted among the “infidels”, in terms of the above looks very justified: these Slavs who lived on the Don were Khazar allies, and not just subjects, and their export to Transcaucasia, subject to the Arabs, was political and military act. There were few Slavs on the Don (which is why archaeologists cannot find clear traces of them for that time), but, apparently, these military settlers played an important role in the area. They did not resign themselves to forced relocation to foreign lands - very soon they fled to their homeland, were overtaken by the Arabs and exterminated.

It is hardly possible to talk about the subjugation of the East Slavic territories proper before this time, if only for the reason that until the 30s of the 8th century. The main attention of the Khazar rulers, whose center was in the North-Eastern Caucasus, was turned to Transcaucasia, to the fight against the Arabs. Defeat in this struggle should, naturally, have pushed the Khazar aristocracy to search for other directions of external expansion, without which a state like Khazaria could not exist.

Meanwhile, it was from the second half of the 8th century. Trade of Muslim countries with Eastern Europe, and through it with Western Europe, begins to develop. The development of economic ties in itself led to a softening of political contradictions and a reduction in the number of military conflicts. One more circumstance must be kept in mind. It was in the middle of the 8th century. The united Arab state began to disintegrate, or rather, Spanish possessions and the Emirate of Cordoba, hostile to the Abbasids, separated from it. Trade between the East and the West in these conditions had to take different routes. In addition, the Mediterranean Sea was under the control of Byzantium, hostile to the Arabs; the famous successes of Muslims at sea in the first half of the 8th century. stopped for a while and resumed in the 9th century. Finally, in the first half of the 8th century. Byzantium and the Khazars were allies, but in the second half their relations deteriorated.

All this pushed Muslim merchants to trade through the Khazar possessions, and the Khazar authorities to look for ways to strengthen their control over the trade arteries of Eastern Europe. At that time, such arteries were rivers and the merchants themselves turned into sailors under those conditions. The Khazars were not interested in allowing Muslim merchants into the vastness of Eastern Europe, but the Khazars themselves were not seafarers. The only thing they could do and what they did was to advance their dominance (and influence) as far as possible into the Eastern European territories of the forest-steppe and forest belts, rich in the very fur that was in increasing demand in Muslim countries. And successes were achieved here: the lands of the Burtases and Volga Bulgars were included in Khazaria, and then the outlying Slavic tribes became Khazar tributaries: Polyans, Vyatichi, Northerners, Radimichi. Thus, trade along the Volga almost to its headwaters and, in any case, to the mouths of its main tributaries - the Kama and Oka - was controlled by the Khazars. Particularly important was the land of the Radimichi, through which it was possible to reach the Dnieper, cutting off the northern Slavs from the southern ones.

Let's take another look at the chronicle news recorded by the Kyiv chronicler, and therefore paid special attention to the glades. This ancient historian touched upon all other East Slavic “tribes” primarily in connection with Kyiv affairs. Even the Novgorod events of the 9th century. the chronicler states only when they are important for Kyiv, although Novgorod is the place where the princely dynasty came from. It is no coincidence that the Kiev chronicler singles out the Polyans as a highly cultured tribe with civilized marriage customs, contrasting them with the closest Eastern Slavs, especially the Drevlyans, who do not skimp on describing their vile morals. This attitude is obviously explained by memories, since the glades “were offended by the ancient trees and the frosty surroundings.” This phrase recorded by the chronicler after a second mention of the death of the legendary Kiy and his brothers. This legend is described in more detail above, where it is said that after the death of these brothers, their descendants (clan) reigned over the glades.

The question of Cue and the legends associated with it has been discussed many times in the literature. Recognizing it historical figure, a contemporary of the emperors Anastasius or Justinian, and the involvement of Armenian sources in the question of the founding of Kyiv further confused this already difficult issue, which cannot be specifically touched upon here. I will only note the following. It is worth considering whether the name of Kyiv, located on the Dnieper in the region of the ancient Slavic-Iranian borderland, does not contain the Iranian title “kiy”, “kaya” (various options), which means “ruler, prince”.

Returning to the Russian chronicle (Kyiv), I once again draw attention to its indication that the glades had their own princes (like the Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Novgorod Slavs, Polochans) and that the glades were “offended” by the Drevlyans and other neighbors. In 945, the Drevlyano-Polyansky dispute was decided in favor of the Polyans by Olga. But who are the other neighbors who “offended” the glades? It is unlikely that these were northerners or Radimichi, who themselves were “offended” by the Khazars. This means that we should most likely be talking about the latter, and also, possibly, for the 9th century. about the Hungarians, who, however, could act, as we will see below, on the orders or instigation of the Khazars.

Let us now take a closer look at the Polyansk Principality. Judging by the chronicles, this East Slavic “tribe” occupied a small territory. B. A. Rybakov expands the latter primarily due to part of the northern lands with their historical center Chernigov. V.V. Sedov is more careful here: he limits the area of ​​clearings in the north-west of the river. Teterev, in the south of the river. Ros, in the north, leads to Lyubech, in the east - to Chernigov, placing the latter on the Polyana-Severyansk borderland. The question still remains open and, due to the very unclear characteristics of the chronicle, must be resolved primarily based on archaeological data. But, in any case, there is no reason to classify Chernigov as a Polyansky land. The main argument of B. A. Rybakov is the insignificant size of the Polyansky land (if we agree with the chronicle), and this, they say, does not correspond to its role in the history of the Eastern Slavs. However, when characterizing the Polyanskaya land, the main thing is not its size, but its geographical location.

The Polyanskaya land was a border outpost of the Slavs at the very borders of the steppes, where successive nomads dominated. And this is precisely what made the relatively small Polyansky territory especially significant in the eyes of the entire Slavic world. The struggle with the steppe, for the forms of development and use of the latter, was waged from ancient times and only in modern times could it end with its settlement and development by the agricultural population. During the period when the Slavs successfully settled both in the Balkans and to the north, in the forests of the future Great Russia, their attempts to go southeast beyond the forest-steppe encountered oncoming waves of nomads from the east and, as a rule, were not crowned with success.

There was another reason that made the land of the glades the most important East Slavic center - its geographical location in a very advantageous place, where important trade routes converged from the north (along the Dnieper) and northeast (from the Oka to the Desna). In the era under consideration, the Eastern Slavs were at the stage of decomposition of the primitive communal system and the formation of a class society and state. In accordance with F. Engels, this stage of social development can be called military democracy. The term is very capacious, showing, on the one hand, the preservation of social (primitive) equality, and on the other, the presence of distinguished groups of people whose main occupation was war for the purpose of extraction. Among the Slavs themselves, subsistence farming dominated, but relatively nearby there were societies of a different structure, where there were developed crafts and products. which had to be sold. In addition, societies such as the then Slavic, due to the natural geographical division of labor inherent in that era, became a supplier of a number of goods for more developed societies - for Eastern Europe these were primarily furs and slaves. This created the basis for transit trade of the eastern countries and Byzantium, transit because it covered not only Eastern Europe, but also tied most of the rest to it European continent, including Scandinavia, where forms of military democracy, due to the extreme scarcity of natural resources, were even more pronounced. Under these conditions, Kyiv, Chernigov, Smolensk, Novgorod, Beloozero, Rostov acquired special meaning. But even among them, the role of Kyiv was noticeable and increased in the 9th-10th centuries. in the process of developing the Dnieper route, or, in the terminology of the chronicle, “the route from the Varangians to the Greeks.”

One of the mistakes of modern historiography is the element of modernization of the historical process, when by the 1st millennium AD. e. they are trying to apply criteria that were not applicable to the Europe of that time, first of all, to replace the complexity and bizarre interweaving of the specific conditions of that era with a straightforward (although in theory absolutely correct) scheme, according to which agriculture is clearly separated from cattle breeding, then crafts from agriculture, and the development of the latter dominantly determines the evolution of society . In fact, the conditions for agriculture in most East Slavic lands were difficult and inconvenient, since a significant part of even the forest-steppe, if not under the rule of nomads, was under a constant threat from them, and this did not at all contribute to its cultivation, the conditions for which were created much later - in the XVII-XVIII centuries.

Let's return to the events of the 9th century. The dependence of the glades on the Khazars from the chronicle emerges quite clearly, but only in general outline. The chronicler does not provide any real facts about Khazar-Polyanian relations, and to clarify a more accurate historical situation it is necessary to involve foreign sources, contemporary with events or distant from them for a relatively short time and, in turn, going back to modern information.

The first include the news of the Bertin Annals, Arabic sources of the version of Ibn Ruste - Gardizi. Of the second, the main one is Constantine Porphyrogenitus. The earliest time to which they take us is the 30s of the 9th century. Konstantin Porphyrogenitus, compiling (or, rather, editing) a kind of political manual for his heir, made excursions into the past only when he considered it necessary. Therefore, he has information about the origin of the Hungarians (Turks) and Pechenegs, but there is no information about the Khazars and Rus. From the materials of Khazar-Byzantine relations, the emperor especially noted the fact of the construction of the Sarkel fortress on the Don. The question of the reasons for the construction of Sarkel has long been debated in science. It is generally accepted that this event was in one way or another connected with the arrival in our southern steppes from beyond the Volga Magyar tribes. The main source about them for the 9th century. is the same Constantine Porphyrogenitus, but the Arab news of the mentioned cycle, as well as the later Hungarian legends of the so-called Anonymous, add something. The latter, at the beginning of our century, received a reputation as a monument not worthy of trust, but now the attitude towards it is different. In this regard, one cannot help but note the (at first glance strange) complete silence of the PVL about the role of the Hungarians in the events of the 9th century. The chronicle only under 898 mentions the origin of the Ugrians past Kyiv at the Ugric Mountain, although this actually happened somewhat earlier. In fact, this is further confirmation of the poor awareness of the chroniclers of the 11th-12th centuries. about the events of the 9th century.

Unfortunately, of all the news that interests us in this regard, only one has an exact date - the message from the Bertin Annals about the arrival of the Russian embassy from Byzantium to the court of Louis the Pious in 839. This embassy traveled to its homeland in a roundabout way because the road along which it arrived in Byzantium and was cut off by some enemy who had appeared there again. It can be assumed that the ambassadors of the Khakan of the Rus left their country for Constantinople in 838 or even 837.

The erudite emperor names the area as the country of Levedia as the original (or known to him?) location of the Hungarians. The name is an ellised form of a local word from the Old Hungarian “Levedi”, in turn, according to Constantine, associated with the first Hungarian governor Levedi. In the Greek text, Lebediah is referred to by a term translated as “ancient, old habitat,” which in turn is translated by the English “old.” However, the location of Levedia near Constantine in the area between the Don and the Dnieper allows us to conclude that we are talking about the old, in the sense of the former. the habitat of the Hungarians, since it is reliably known that they came here from across the Volga. And the further text of Constantine, it seems to me, confirms this. The emperor points out that the Hungarians lived in this area for three years, being allies of the Khazars, whose Khakan married Levedia to a noble Khazar woman. According to Constantine, it was Levedius who led the Hungarians to the Atelkuzu region ("interfluve" in ancient Hungarian), located between the Dnieper and the Dniester. This is where contradictions appear in our source.

On the one hand, the resettlement to Atelkyuza should have taken place precisely after the expiration of the mentioned three years, on the other hand, Constantine puts forward as its reason the defeat of the Pechenegs in the war with the Khazars (!), after which the Pechenegs ousted the Khazars’ allies - the Hungarians - to the west. Probably, early events are confused here with later ones, the late 80s of the 9th century, when the Pechenegs really pushed the Hungarians to the west.