Russians

Russians
Group	Russians
Native name	русские
Native name lang	ru
Caption	The Flag of Russia and the Coat of arms of Russia
Population	~135 million
Region1	Russia
Pop1	115,889,107 (2021 census)
Region2	Ukraine
Pop2	~7.1 million (pre-2022)
Region3	Kazakhstan
Pop3	~2.9 million
Region4	Germany
Pop4	~2.2 million
Region5	United States
Pop5	~2.1 million
Languages	Russian language
Religions	Predominantly Russian Orthodox Christianity
Related groups	Other East Slavs (Belarusians, Ukrainians)

Russians are an East Slavic ethnic group, native to Eastern Europe, who constitute the overwhelming majority of the population in the Russian Federation. They share a common history, culture, and language, with the Russian language being the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages. The formation of the Russian people is deeply intertwined with the history of the Kievan Rus', the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the modern Russian Federation.

Etymology and terminology

The modern ethnonym derives from the Rus' people, a group of primarily Varangian origin who established the polity of Kievan Rus' in the 9th century. Over time, the name became associated with the East Slavic inhabitants of the state, particularly in the northern principalities like the Novgorod Republic and the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. The Greek designation Rhos and the Latin Rutheni were used in medieval sources, while the term "Muscovy" was common in Western Europe for the Grand Duchy of Moscow. The self-designation русские (russkiye) refers specifically to the ethnic group, whereas россияне (rossiyane) denotes all citizens of the Russian Federation.

History

The early ethnogenesis of the people was shaped by the synthesis of Slavic, Finnic, and Baltic tribes under the Kievan Rus' state, which adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988. Following the Mongol invasion and the fragmentation of Rus', the center of political power shifted northeast to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which led the gathering of the Russian lands and eventually overthrew the Tatar yoke. The expansion of the Tsardom of Russia under rulers like Ivan the Terrible and the Romanov dynasty created a vast multi-ethnic Russian Empire, which played a major role in the Napoleonic Wars and European politics. The 20th century was defined by the Russian Revolution, the establishment of the Soviet Union under Vladimir Lenin, the brutal rule of Joseph Stalin, victory in the Great Patriotic War, the Cold War, and the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, leading to the formation of the modern Russian Federation.

Geographic distribution and diaspora

The vast majority reside within the borders of the Russian Federation, with significant populations in historically contiguous regions such as Siberia, the Russian Far East, and the North Caucasus. A large diaspora, often a result of imperial expansion, Soviet-era migrations, and post-Soviet emigration, exists across the former republics of the Soviet Union, notably in Ukraine (especially Crimea and the Donbas), Kazakhstan, Belarus, and the Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia]. Substantial communities also live in Germany, the United States, Israel, and Canada, with notable cultural centers in cities like Brighton Beach and Toronto.

Language and culture

The Russian language, written in the Cyrillic script, is the primary unifying cultural marker and one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The literary tradition is world-renowned, with foundational figures like Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, and Anton Chekhov. Classical music and ballet achieved global prominence through the works of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky, and the Bolshoi Theatre. The Russian avant-garde movement influenced modern art, while Soviet-era cinema, with directors like Andrei Tarkovsky, and the Moscow Art Theatre under Konstantin Stanislavski, left an indelible mark on world culture.

Religion

Historically, the dominant faith is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which was formally adopted by the Kievan Rus' in 988 and is institutionally represented by the Russian Orthodox Church. The Church played a central role in culture and identity through the centuries, despite severe persecution under the atheist policies of the Soviet Union and the destruction of landmarks like the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. A revival has occurred since the 1990s. Other traditional faiths include Old Believers, who split from the official church in the 17th century, as well as minorities practicing Islam (particularly among Tatars and in the North Caucasus), Buddhism (in regions like Kalmykia and Buryatia), and various Protestant denominations.

Genetics and anthropology

Genetic studies indicate that they are primarily descended from the early East Slavic tribes, with significant admixture from neighboring Finnic populations in the north and, to a lesser extent, from Mongol and other Turkic groups from the period of the Golden Horde. Anthropologically, they are part of the larger Caucasoid population of Europe, with phenotypic diversity increasing from the western regions toward the Urals and Siberia, reflecting a long history of assimilation of indigenous populations. Research on uniparental markers shows a high frequency of Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a and mitochondrial haplogroup H, common among Slavic and European groups.

Category:Ethnic groups in Russia Category:Slavic ethnic groups Category:European ethnic groups