Should Russians be considered European?

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frankishwarrior

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How European are Russians ethnically? I have read reports that say that they are slavicized Asiatic people for the most part.
 
They're Eastern Europeans like Lithuanians, Belaroussians, Ukrainians, etc
 
There's no such thing as Russian ethnicity to begin with.
 
Why no such thing?
 
Next hot topic: Are Slavs white?

For real though. Russia is a home for many ethnicities. When you see a Chuvash, Finno-Ugric, Mordvin, Udmurt, Ossetian or whoever else is there, you'll think that he's Russian simply because he's speaking a Russian language, even though he doesn't look Russian at all. The thing is that ethnic or central Russians are still in majority - are they European? Yes. Are they "European" culturally? That's up for debate, seeing as what it means to be European is constantly changing, especially now.
 
davef said:
Why no such thing?
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Because Russian is too broad term and consists many different linguistic and ethnic groups, make almost the same sense as to call Americans as a whole an ethnicity.
 
Most Russians are Slavs, so I think they are European both ethnically and culturally.
 
Honestly I'm not sure why it matters to be considered European, when Russia as a state holds more resources, military power and influence on world politics than the whole European states together. I think it would make more sense to ask if Europe can be considered Russian?
 
Seanp said:
Because Russian is too broad term and consists many different linguistic and ethnic groups, make almost the same sense as to call Americans as a whole an ethnicity.
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so with all the refugees from the Middle East moving into the Netherlands, is Dutch no longer an ethnicity?
 
davef said:
so with all the refugees from the Middle East moving into the Netherlands, is Dutch no longer an ethnicity?
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In terms of political correctness all Dutch regardless of their religion, skin color are Dutch citizens with equal rights, if a Dutch of Nigerian descent call himself as Dutch it's more controversial question, but Nations don't necessarily refer to ethnicity and it's true for most states in the world, British were once Anglo Saxons, Germanic tribes, Goths living together who later formed a state and call themselves British citizens or Britons as in ethnic term.

Nations don't refer to ethnicity for the most part, but often display political and military interests. My Neapolitan father never called himself as Italian, but due to political interests and nationalistic education I believe a lot Neapolitans call themselves Italian even if their grandparents never heard of such thing as Italian ethnicity, but it's also controversial to explain here.
 
davef said:
so with all the refugees from the Middle East moving into the Netherlands, is Dutch no longer an ethnicity?
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Dutch ethnicity still exists in the countryside and the periphery, but not in the big cities any more.
Unless you redefine Dutch ethnicity.
 
frankishwarrior said:
How European are Russians ethnically? I have read reports that say that they are slavicized Asiatic people for the most part.
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Yes, I have Asiatic components, but it is same as Mongolian European admixture (k3)

also Russians are more homogeneous then South Europe or Atlantic Coast (They are k2-k3)
Ancestral_components_of_the_Balto-Slavic_gene_pool.PNG
 
There's a difference between being a certain ethnicity and just being labeled a certain ethnicity due to being a citizen of that ethnicity's country.
 
Yes, they're a Slavic people which is a European ethnic group.
 
apie3000 said:
Yes, they're a Slavic people which is a European ethnic group.
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the creator of this thread was a crude provocateur. There is no moving creature on earth that does not know Russians are Europeans of the East Europe
 
DuPidh said:
the creator of this thread was a crude provocateur. There is no moving creature on earth that does not know Russians are Europeans of the East Europe
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Huh, maybe he is. I mean the Russians look European, have a European culture, speak a European language, and follow Eastern Orthodox Christianity. They may have some Asian admixture but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. The Mediterranean peoples like the Spanish and the Italians probably have some North African Berber admixture but that doesn't make them any less European.
 
davef said:
There's a difference between being a certain ethnicity and just being labeled a certain ethnicity due to being a citizen of that ethnicity's country.
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It is just a time issue.

English is also a label, it is not homogeneous ethnicity or Turkish. These were just labels in mediveal ages then turn into ethnicity.
 
apie3000 said:
Huh, maybe he is. I mean the Russians look European, have a European culture, speak a European language, and follow Eastern Orthodox Christianity. They may have some Asian admixture but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. The Mediterranean peoples like the Spanish and the Italians probably have some North African Berber admixture but that doesn't make them any less European.
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Define "European" language. Does that mean belonging to the Indo-European branch? By that logic, Persian/Farsi is also a European language. Tell me what does this term mean. Because then also, some languages spoken inside Europe (like Hungarian) are by the same definition not European at all (but Ural-Altaic). I wouldn't pay too much attention to the origin of the language.

Looking European... well don't Levantines look pretty European as well?

Define "European culture". It is based on the Latin-script spreading of the Roman Empire? Orthodox Christianity is therefore not European. The Russians took a different path.

Also, looking at their history, it's clear they are distinct from Westerners. You're talking about a region and culture which held communist dictatorships, mass totalitarianism, strong collectivist ideals, etc. all which seem to be Asian values not European ones. I am definitely of the opinion that Russia's Asian territory also contributes to this Eurasian mentality that has prevailed over the past century or two. Russians have contributed to European culture/literature, but they are a distinct peoples IMO.
 
frankishwarrior said:
How European are Russians ethnically? I have read reports that say that they are slavicized Asiatic people for the most part.
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Russians overall are 70% European (varies by region), in comparison, Greeks are at 44%, Turks at 28%.
 
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