Are Russians European or Asian
Ah yes, the elusive Schrodinger’s Russian…
Ok, well, in all seriousness, it depends on the Russian.
What I mean by that is, Russia spans across two continents. Many people tend to think of Moscow when they think of Russia, and thus think of Russia as a European country…. but the geographical truth is, most of Russia is actually in Asia.
Europe and Asia are split in Russia by the Ural Mountain range. Everything east of those mountains is Asian Russia…… also known as Siberia.
Some people don’t even believe that Asia and Europe are two separate continents, and refer to it as the Eurasian continent block. Which is just preference, I think.
But I suppose you’re asking about like, race or something?
European settlers - specifically Slavic settlers originally expanded into Asian Russia. Right now, the country is populated by both ‘European’ (slavic origin or mixed-european heritage) Russians and “Asian” Russians.
“What does that even mean?“ you ask.
Well, a lot of people assume all Russians look like this:
*Russian squat not included
But the reality is, there are a lot of Russians who are indigenous to the Siberian part of Russia, who have been here way before the Slavic settlers, and who are more closely related to Mongolian and Chinese people.
There’s a LOT more, you can start on Wikipedia if you’re interested, but in general, a lot of these people have now either lost their language (most people speak Russian, even though there were originally many, many indigenous siberian languages).
And for many more people that live in Russia who have both Slavic AND Siberian-indigenous heritage, the line is even more blurred. There are Russian traditions in Siberia that may seem a lot closer to their Asian neighbors than to the western side of Russia. For example, (sorry, just pulling this outta my ass) when I went back home to visit 3 years ago my family dragged me to a friend’s place to make pelmeni.
Pelmeni are just dumplings, basically, that are made by hand and then boiled.
They closely resemble chinese dumplings. They’re a staple food in Russia, but they’re not European.
SO ANYWAY back to your question.
Are Russians Asian or European?
A lot of Russians will identify as European. Especially if they’re white, and they live in Moscow.
Some Russians, who live in Eastern Russia, and are indigenous Siberian, would probably identify as Asian.
I personally was born in Asia… as were my parents, and grandparents. But I’m white, and I don’t have any right to call myself Asian. I can’t call myself European, either, because… I’m not from Europe! I’ve never lived in Europe. My grandmother is half Ukrainian, which, I think, is as European as I get.
I just call myself Russian, and that’s it? I guess?
Idk, I don’t think Russians think about this that often.
Other Russians? Weigh in?
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