What is the ethnic origin of the Russians?

Question

Are they pure Eastern Slavs or are they also a mixture of other races like the Finns, Ugrians, Tatars and other Uralic peoples?

How do the Russians differ from other Slavic peoples like the Poles and Ukrainians?

Answer 1

Ethnic Russians may be divided into two parts, the central-southern Russians and the northern Russians (see the genetic research below). The former are genetically identical to the Poles and the Ukrainians, while the latter show mild Finnic admixtures. The former thus are taller and have narrower, longer faces whereas the latter tend to have somewhat broader faces and show a greater tendency towards snub noses, albeit the overall percentage of this trait is smaller among Russians than among Germans. The northern segment has lighter pigmentation.

Accusations of mixed heritage have no genetic foundation and probably stem from strife between various nations. The Russians would accuse the Ukrainians of being squat and dark, the Ukrainians would accuse the Muscovites of being Tatars, and both would accuse the Poles of being Jews. Similar theories may be found among the Southern Slavs, who would slander each other endlessly because of religion and political loyalties.

As far as the supposedly Asian features are concerned, they are usually caused by alcoholism (see the Yeltsin example). On top of that, individuals of other ethnicities call themselves Russian without any foundation. For instance, Lenin was part-Jewish, part-Kalmuck, part-Chuvash, part-Swedish, part-German and part-Russian, but they would call him Russian just for the sake of it. Another q***r example is the late General Alexander Lebed', who was born to two Ukrainians, was included into the census as Russian, and had features that were typical of neither.

Answer 2

Are they pure Eastern Slavs or are they also a mixture of other races like the Finns, Ugrians, Tatars and other Uralic peoples?

The East Slavs are a Slavic ethnic group, the speakers of East Slavic languages. Formerly the main population of the medieval state of Kievan Rus, by the seventeenth century they evolved into the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples. Even in the first millennium AD, Slavic settlers are likely to have been in contact with other ethnic groups who moved across the East European Plain during the Migration Period.

Early East Slavs

http://www.masterliness.com/a/Early.East...

How do the Russians differ from other Slavic peoples like the Poles and Ukrainians?

There are some differences in culture and languages

http://russianwomenshome.com/simplemachi...

Answer 3

The difference? Much bigger hatred for the "stars and stripes".

They didn't kick your a**e yet??

Answer 4

hi,

The citizens of Russia are termed Rossiiane. However, not all Russian citizens are ethnic Russians - russkiye.

It is true that ethnic Russians are in the majority, an estimated 82% of the population today. But there are significant numbers of other ethnic or national groups in Russia too: Tatars/Turkic, Chechens, Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Armenians, Finns, Germans, Jews, Buriats, Bashkirs, and many others...

Currently there are over 100 different ethnic or national groups in Russia. Russia is thus a land of great ethnic diversity.

Complicating matters further is the fact that, in past generations, large numbers of people from these various minority groups have assimilated, that is, they have taken on ethnic Russian identity.

For example, in late tsarist times it was possible for Jews to become ethnic Russians by being baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church. Some non-ethnic Russians married ethnic Russians and brought their children up as ethnic Russians.

Some non-ethnic Russians simply russified their names. And so on. All this means that many people who call themselves ethnic Russians today have mixed ethnic ancestry.

As a southern Russian proverb has it:

(Papa is a Turk, Mama is a Greek, but I'm a Russian).

Many famous Russians are of mixed ethnic background. Poet Aleksandr Puşkin descended from a German on his father's side and an Ethiopian on his mother's side.

General Mikhail Kutuzov was of German ancestry. Historian Nikolai Karamzin was of Tatar/Turkic background.

The Tatar/Turkic connection is especially frequent. "Scratch a Russian and you'll find a Tatar," says the proverb.

Consider some fairly well-known "Russian" names of Tatar/Turkic origin: Arakcheev, Artsybashev, Berdiaev, Kochubei, Muratov, Musin, Saltykov, Tiutchev, Sheremet'ev….  

Answer 5

Asking this question on Yahoo Answers is almost guaranteed to reap horrible, misinformed and speculative answers. And as some of more intelligent people have pointed out, basically, it can be very difficult to define ethnic Russians. One thing to bear in mind is that stereotypes that exist and/or are popular in Western nations regarding Russians are generally not true and sometimes even grossly false. My favorite experience with this was in USA when someone tell me "I'm pretty pale for a Russian"... later figured out he had some idea that Russians were dark skinned asiatic looking people haha. Was confused that I was pale and blonde hahaha. Typical American.

Answer 6

The Russians of today aren’t a ethnically pure population, but a mix of that ethnic groups you’ve meant and many others as a contribution to its imperial history. Even the eastern Slavic factor is dominating. Of course, there are areas dominated by one ethnic group or nation like Tatars, Germans and Ugrians… Only the language made that mix of ethnic groups to a nation and the military power of Tsar and the Soviets. Generally the Russians has a significant genetic share from Tatars, so you can easily make them out just looking into their eyes in between of Ukrainians (with bright eyes deeply situated in the scull) and the Polish, who usually look more European styled, with them noses and eyes.

Answer 7

Russia is a big dust-bin, that's all you can say about Russia and Russian people

Answer 8

What is the ethnic origin of USA Americans? A mixture of european (mostly English) unwanted criminals and prostitutes, expelled from the overcrowded prisons, soldiers of fortune, bandits, and social leftovers of every kind, who massacred the local Indian populations and went on massacring the whole world because that's the only thing they know how to do well (because of their heritage).