There were Jews fleeing their various persecutors who ended up in Khazaria many years before the Byzantine Emperor and the Caliph of Islam tried to force 5he Khazars to pick one or the other. The Kazhars liked the financial benefits of being neutral and their largest conversion was in 740. The first Russian Czar was Ivan the Terrible in 1547. The closest to a federation of nations in 740 was Khazaria, and the Rus were another unruly bunch who fought with them and finally joined the Veringen branch of Vikings from Eastern Sweden to destroy the Khazar empire by 1200.
There were Jews fleeing their various persecutors who ended up in Khazaria many years before the Byzantine Emperor and the Caliph of Islam tried to force 5he Khazars to pick one or the other. The Kazhars liked the financial benefits of being neutral and their largest conversion was in 740. The first Russian Czar was Ivan the Terrible in 1547. The closest to a federation of nations in 740 was Khazaria, and the Rus were another unruly bunch who fought with them and finally joined the Veringen branch of Vikings from Eastern Sweden to destroy the Khazar empire by 1200.