Varyingly traced to the Blessed Alexander Peresvět of Radonež (died 1380) and to a certain Vasilej Peresvět Ivanov in early-15th-century Dmitrov (NW of Moscow), the family, in the person of Murat Aleksěevič Peresvětov (died 1640) from Rostov Velikij, entered Swedish service in 1613-14 during the Ingrian War.
There ensued a bitter struggle for the town's possession, which ended in Vasily II of Moscow's being taken captive in Radonezh by his cousin Dmitry Shemyaka and later blinded.
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Designed by Vyacheslav Klykov, it was the first public statue to be erected in the Soviet Union without permission from the authorities.
When the principality of Rostov fell into the hands of the Grand Duke Ivan Danilovich of Moscow, his parents Kirill and Maria became impoverished and moved to Radonezh together with their three sons: Stefan, Bartholomew and Peter.