This book is about one of the most disputed issues in Russian history: the formation of the Russian state. The author studies it in a historiographical way, that is with the analysis of the major works on the issue in Russian and foreign sources. The author presents the main paradigms in the field. One of them is a transition from monarchy to democracy. Kievan Rus is presented in this paradigm as a monarchy. The other paradigm (second part of XIX - early XX), called "democratic, presented the Kievan Rus as a veche or democratic state. The argument about both paradigms is the subject of this book. Bibliography.