Rurik or Riurik (Russian: Рюрик, Old East Norse: Rørik, meaning "famous ruler"; ca 830 – ca 879) was a Varangian chieftain who gained control of Ladoga in 862, built the Holmgard settlement near Novgorod, and founded the Rurik Dynasty which ruled Russia until the 17th century.

Riurik is the Slavic rendering of the same Germanic name as the modern English Roderick, or Spanish and Portuguese Rodrigo. In old Germanic languages it had forms such as Hrodric (Old High German) and Hroðricus (Old English). In Old Norse, Hrœrekr (Norway, Iceland) and Hrørīkr or Rørik (Denmark, Sweden), from which Riurik is derived. The name also appears in Beowulf as Hrēðrīk[1].

There is a debate over how Rurik came to control Ladoga and Novgorod. The only information about him is contained in the 12th-century Russian Primary Chronicle, which states that Chuds, Slavs, Merias, Veses and Krivichs "…drove the Varangians back beyond the sea, refused to pay them tribute, and set out to govern themselves". Afterwards the tribes started fighting each other and decided to invite Rurik to reestablish order.

Ruryk Rostislavich (Рюрик Ростиславич in Ukrainian) (?–1215), Prince of Novgorod (1170–1171), Belgorod Kievsky, presently Bilohorodka (1173–1194), Grand Prince of Kiev (1173, 1180–1182, 1194–1202, 1203–1205, 1206, 1207–1210), Prince of Chernigov (1210–1214).

Rurik was the son of Rostislav of Kiev, and succession conflicts placed Rurik on the throne of the Kievan Rus' no less than seven times. In 1182, he became co-ruler with Sviatoslav III of Kiev, an arrangement that lasted until Sviatoslav's death in 1194. Rurik ruled alone until 1199, when his rule was challenged by Roman the Great, who deposed Rurik.

After a brief stint in Chernihiv, where he built the Church of St. Paraskebas, Rurik, along with his kinsmen and a Cuman army, attacked and sacked Kiev in 1203, but was repelled until Roman's death in 1205. Rurik had been confined to a monastery in 1204, but he abandoned his holy vows and returned to the throne.

His cousin, Vsevolod, felt that Rurik's previous monastic vows rendered his authority invalid, and so attacked and briefly seized Kiev in 1206, 1207, and 1211. He succeeded in capturing Rurik, who died in captivity in Chernihiv.