The authors introduce and study the class of groups graded by root systems. They prove that if $Phi$ is an irreducible classical root system of rank $geq 2$ and $G$ is a group graded by $Phi$, then under certain natural conditions on the grading, the union of the root subgroups is a Kazhdan subset of $G$. As the main application of this theorem the authors prove that for any reduced irreducible classical root system $Phi$ of rank $geq 2$ and a finitely generated commutative ring $R$ with $1$, the Steinberg group ${mathrm St}_(R)$ and the elementary Chevalley group $mathbb E_(R)$...