For a couple of decades, scientists have been arguing with unprecedented passion about when Russia arose, the Slavic race and the Russian ethnos were formed. There are several main hypotheses with solid ground each. Some of them contradict, while others rather complement each other. Historians still cannot agree on a single opinion. However, most of them agree on one thing – millennia of the fascinating history of Russia have hitherto been hidden from the Russian people and many facts have been deliberately distorted. Let's look at the most common and well-reasoned of these hypotheses.