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[[File:Coin of the Kievan Rus.jpg|thumbnail|275px|Coin with the personal tamga or sign of Vladimir (trident or ''tryzub'').<ref name=KievanRusCoins>[https://www.cointalk.com/threads/coins-of-the-kievan-rus.394099/ Coins of the Kievan Rus]</ref>]]

[[File:Coin of the Kievan Rus.jpg|thumbnail|275px|Coin with the personal tamga or sign of Vladimir (trident or ''tryzub'').<ref name=KievanRusCoins>[https://www.cointalk.com/threads/coins-of-the-kievan-rus.394099/ Coins of the Kievan Rus]</ref>]]

Feudal fragmentation caused the decline of Kievan Rus' in the 12th century. In 1169 Kiev was sacked by Prince Andrei Bogoliubsky of Vladimir; in 1240 it was virtually destroyed by the [[Mongols]] under Batu Khan. The Principality of [[Galicia]]-[[Volhynia]] continued as the successor state of Kievan Rus' in what is now Ukraine until the 14th century, when it was annexed by [[Poland]] and [[Lithuania]]. In the 13th and 14th centuries under Polish and [[Roman Catholic]] domination, the Russian speaking people who became detached from the main body of the [[Russian world]] developed a distinct culture from the other East Slavs, but their language and the Cyrillic alphabet remained the same.

Feudal fragmentation caused the decline of Kievan Rus' in the 12th century. In 1169 Kiev was sacked by Prince Andrei Bogoliubsky of Vladimir; in 1240 it was virtually destroyed by the [[Mongols]] under Batu Khan. The Principality of [[Galicia]]-[[Volhynia]] continued as the successor state of Kievan Rus' in what is now Ukraine until the 14th century, when it was annexed by [[Poland]] and [[Lithuania]]. In the 13th and 14th centuries under Polish and [[Roman Catholic]] domination, the Russian speaking people who became detached from the main body of the [[Russian world]] developed a distinct culture from the other East Slavs, but their language and the Cyrillic alphabet remained the same.

===Cossacks===

===Cossacks===