noble_family sviatoslav i of kiev
Sviatoslav I Igorevich ( Old East Slavic :  ~  /   , Sventoslav / Svantoslav Igorevi ; Old Norse : Sveinald Ingvarsson ; Russian :   , Sviatoslav Igorevich ; Ukrainian :   , Sviatoslav Ihorovych ; Belarusian :   , Sviatasla Iharavich ; Bulgarian :  , Svetoslav , Greek :  , Sphendosthlabos ) ( c . 942 -- March 972 ) , also spelled Svyatoslav , Grand prince of Kiev . The son of Igor of Kiev and Olga , Sviatoslav is famous for his persistent campaigns in the east and south , which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe , Khazaria and the First Bulgarian Empire . He also conquered numerous East Slavic tribes , defeated the Alans and attacked the Volga Bulgars , and at times was allied with the Pechenegs and Magyars . His decade - long reign over the Kievan Rus ' was marked by rapid expansion into the Volga River valley , the Pontic steppe , and the Balkans . By the end of his short life , Sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in Europe , eventually moving his capital in 969 from Kiev ( modern - day Ukraine ) to Pereyaslavets ( identified as the modern village of Nufru , Romania ) on the Danube . In contrast with his mother ' s conversion to Christianity , Sviatoslav remained a staunch pagan all of his life . Due to his abrupt death in ambush , his conquests , for the most part , were not consolidated into a functioning empire , while his failure to establish a stable succession led to a fratricidal feud among his sons , resulting in two of his three sons being killed . The ___MASK95___ or Rurikids was a dynasty founded by the Varangian prince Rurik , who established himself in Novgorod around the year AD 862 . The Rurikids were the ruling dynasty of Kievan Rus ' ( after 862 ), as well as the successor principalities of Galicia - Volhynia ( after 1199 ), Chernigov , Vladimir - Suzdal , and the Grand Duchy of Moscow , and the founders of the Tsardom of Russia . They ruled until 1598 and the Time of Troubles , following which they were succeeded by the Romanovs . They are one of Europe ' s oldest royal houses , with numerous existing cadet branches . ___MASK54___ or Riurik ( from " Rørik "; 830  879 ) was a legendary Varangian chieftain who gained control of Ladoga in 862 , built the Holmgard settlement near Novgorod , and founded the ___MASK95___ , which ruled Kievan Rus ( and later the Grand Duchy of Moscow and Tsardom of Russia ) until the 17th century . Kievan Rus ' (, ) was a loose federation of East Slavic tribes in Europe from the late 9th to the mid - 13th century , under the reign of the ___MASK95___ . The modern peoples of Belarus , Ukraine , and Russia all claim Kievan Rus ' as their cultural ancestors .