At this point Basil II obtained timely aid, in the form of Varangian mercenaries, from his brother-in-law Vladimir, the Russian prince of Kiev, and marched to Abydos.
According to one theory, prominently held by Otto von Friesen and Elena Mel'nikova, Ingvar's saga has transmitted his origin correctly, and so he was the son of the Varangian Eymundr, who in turn was the son of a Swedish chieftain named Áki and the daughter of the Swedish king Eric the Victorious.
One of the runestones, U 161, has the Eastern cross which shows the influence of Byzantine culture on Sweden at this time through the Varangians who returned after having served the Emperor in Constantinople (see also the Greece Runestones and the Italy Runestones).
According to the Velvet Book of Russian genealogy, the Aksakovs trace their male line to Šimon, a Varangian nephew of Haakon the Old, who settled in Novgorod in 1027.
The first documented contacts between the people of Scandinavia and the Slavic territories of Ukraine are the Varangian journeys to what they called Garðaríki.
In the mid-9th century, the Volkhov was a heavily populated trade artery of the Varangian-dominated Rus' Khaganate.