died 972
Grand prince of Kiev (945–72).
The greatest of the Varangian princes of early Russian history, he defeated the Khazar and other peoples in the northern Caucasus (963–965) and conquered the Bulgars (967). Hoping to found a Russo-Bulgarian empire, he refused to cede his conquest to the Byzantines until their army defeated him and forced the surrender of Balkan territory (971). He was killed in an ambush on his way back to Kiev.