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Continuing even further northwards up the Dnieper River, we reach the East European Plain, an area which is populated by quarrelling East Slavic principalities in the west, and Uralic peoples in east and north.

To say that the Russians and the Merya were unprepared for the Naiman invasion is an understatement. The principalities have been too busy fighting each other to take the early warnings easily; subsequently their military prowess was destroyed on the Khopyor River. With most of their cities being protected by wooden palisades, their defences were overcome easily.

The Merya kingdom offered even less resistance. Being relatively lightly populated, the area of the Upper Volga basin was directly incorporated into the Golden Horde. The incorporation of the Merya and related Uralic peoples into the Golden Horde has slightly shifted the religious balance of the latter in favour of the Orthodox faith. Apart from the Merya, there were also other Orthodox subjects within the borders of the Golden Horde, such as the Alans, the Goths and the Circasssians – and ultimately this variety of peoples, as well as their Russian tributaries have convinced the Khans to embrace the Orthodox faith.

The Merya Kingdom was divided by the Khans into four subdivisions, paralleling the tribal divisions of the Volga Finnic peoples. The Merya proper located on the Upper Volga, in the Yaroslavl and Tver regions; Cheremissia in the region of Galich and Nizhniy Novgorod; Murom around the eponymous town and Mordvinia in the easternmost parts .
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Novgorod dominates the north of Russia
The East Slavic states were stretched particularly on the north-south axis, from Novgorod being the northernmost to Kiev and Pereyaslavl in the south. Particularly the cities of Kiev, Pereyaslavl and Chernigov have been hit especially hard in the raiding and destruction caused by the Naimans.

In the south, both Chernigov and Kiev have been considerably weakened by the Naiman raids, and the principalities of Odoyev and Pinsk have seceded from these two states, respectively. The strongest principalities in the region are Galicia-Volhynia, Lithuania and Smolensk. The area in the Dnieper Basin is known as Ruthenia, but remains rather disunited.

With Galicia-Volhynia being a strong contender for dominance in Ruthenia, they are able to achieve the consecration of an independent Metropolitan Archbishopric for Galicia-Volhynia from the Patriarch in Constantinople by the 1260s,
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The Orthodox Church in eastern Europe is divided into five Metropolitan provinces: Kiev, Novgorod, Merya, Halych and Naugardukas (Lithuania)
The northern region is dominated by the Republic of Novogorod. Novgorod has become a prominent member of the Baltic Sea network, supplying Europe with fur, and has managed to assume dominance over the smaller Uralic tribes of the north- Ingrians, Karelians, Veps, Nenents, Komi and Estonians. For their part, the Novgorodians relied on the local tribes to supply them with fur, and they ruled over the vast lands via local chieftains, who are gradually incorporated into the Republic of Novgorod, gradually taking up Novgorodian customs and religion. It can thus be said that the expansion of Novogorod was a voluntary process, and was fermented primarily by trade. The initial presence of Novgorod was primarily through means of establishing outposts, where merchants traded with the local tribes. These outposts were founded primarily alongside rivers, where Novgorodian merchants buy fur from local trappers. Gradually, these outposts grew, as the native tribes settle at these outposts. In this way Karelia, Ingria, Vepsia, Nenetsia and Komi land all naturally gravitated to Novgorod. In the west, Novgorod secures the Estonian coast to prevent it being conquered by a hostile power, such as the Curonians or, even more dangerously, the Swedes.
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The Ushkuiniks were Novgorodian river pirates. Russian own version of Vikings
Novgorod is a westward oriented power, having its interest in being part of the Baltic Sea network, and controlling the fur supply from the Neva and White Sea basins; the Volga basin neitherr the Dnieper basin are the source of interest for Novgorodian expansion. True enough, ideally, Novgorod would happily see a disunited Volga basin, consisting of a number of quarrelling states.

With Novgorod being an aristocratic republic, it differs significantly from the other East Slavic realms, and the general populace enjoyed much more freedom ,and the peasants, however few of them there were, had a significantly better position than in Ruthenia. Especially important is the upholding of a rule of law, enabling a sense of legal security. This allows for private initiative, much to contrast a rather despotic manner that may have developed in a Russia under a stronger Naiman yoke (2).

As for the Baltics, five independent realms: Curonia, Latgalia, Lithuania, Sudovia and Prussia. These realms are all native Baltic kingdoms and Duchies (3). As for Estonia, most of it has been conquered by the Republic of Novgorod, which establishes a fortified city in the place.

As for Latgallians, they have been able to conquer the Livonians, who were their northern neighbours, and most importantly, they have wrestled control of the Daugava estuary (4) from the neighbouring Catholic Curonians. The Curonians are in control of the western maritime regions of Curonia and Samogitia, as well as the islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. Until recently, they have been a great threat due to their piracy in the Baltic Sea, however recently they have made an alliance with Denmark, and their Duke and some of his noble are Catholic Christians.
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Medieval Lithuanian soldiers
Lithuania, a little further east, centred on the Upper Nemunas Basin has a king who is an Orthodox Christian himself (5). King Mindaugas (6) has travelled to Constantinople to get baptized and crowned king. This was done also to legitimize his rule over the conquered territories of Polotsk and Minsk, whose inhabitants were predominantly Orthodox East Slavs; some of the Lithuanian nobility had already intermarried with the local East Slavic aristocracy, adopting East Slavic Christian names.
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Ruins of Naugardukos Castle
Gradually, Christianity has made inroads into much of eastern Lithuania, however the western regions remain largely pagan. As part of the deal, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has detatched “Litouania” from the jurisdiction of Kiev around Naugardukos, called Navahrudak by the local East Slavic popualtion Although some pagan temples were repurposed as Christian churches and people were baptised, the process was very gradual, with most of the people still participating in pagan sacrificing, or most often, syncretizing both religions, going to church as well as making pagan sacrifices.
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Baltic paganism still remains strong Lithuania and Curonia.
There was actually no attempt to forcefully convert the pagan subjects of the Lithuanian kings, and conversion to Christianity is only “encouraged”.

The Prince of Kiev complains to Constantinople “but look at those Litwanians. They are like a wolf in sheep´s skin, dressing in a Christian fur to fool us all, but deep inside they are all pagans. They do this spectacle to fool us all. They go to church and display themselves as good Christians, to appease Russian princes, but then, in the night, even the king long with his nobles sacrifices beasts to Perkunas and commits idolatry”. However Lithuanians refuted these “allegations” and when summoned to Constantinople, Metropolitan Tijuvilas (Theophilius) defended these practices “our mission is not that of Joshua, to destroy pagan city after pagan city, but that of mercy, compassion and patience. We are those who set the example, who are the light in dark. How many years has it taken Rome to get Constantine the Great, the founder of the most marvellous city on earth, to accept the sign of the Cross? “​