"Viking" was an activity, not a people. "To go a viking" usually meant
raiding, but could also include trading depending on how tough the people
the met were. The Scandavians who went viking through Russia and down to
Byzantium did indeed found many settlements and the early "Russian"
kingdoms. As for them and the Finns, I thought the Finns weren't afraid of
them because they could kick their viking butts back to where they came
from if they had to. That and not having much the vikings wanted to take by
force.

Samwise