Who are the ‘Russians’? Does a dominant ethnos exist in Moscovia?
Traditionally, Muscovites themselves usually classify themselves as Slavs. However, no Slavic nation qualifies as their closest relative.
Blood kinship continues to play a fundamentally important role in the modern world. We love our children the most — our flesh and blood. Under all circumstances, we care for our parents. The law of inheritance after a person’s death clearly defines the order of such succession by others depending on their degree of kinship with the deceased. A powerful motivator for our actions is the feeling of belonging to a large community of people bound by blood kinship, which is called an ethnos. When we say the words “Ukrainian people,” we usually imagine exactly such blood kinship of people.
We are currently fighting a brutal war for survival. As for us, there is no doubt that we are talking about a predominantly unified and very ancient ethnos. At least from 5500 BC, our land was already inhabited by the so-called Trypillians — one of the oldest agricultural peoples of the world. It is with them that many researchers link one of humanity’s greatest inventions: the wheel. Since those times, the settlement of the territory of present-day Ukraine has been continuous. It is also quite reasonable to assume that the horse was first domesticated on our land.
This population has been called by different names at different times. Beginning from the first millennium BC to the present day, it has entered historical written sources under allegedly different ethnic names: Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Polovtsians, Slavs. All these peoples were not only related to each other within the territory of Ukraine, but almost all peoples of Europe turned out to be their close relatives, despite different names.
We perceive the world primarily through comparison. Mathematics is the best basis for such a comparison. Here the answer is categorical: one can directly compare only real numbers. For example, the use of real numbers allows us to compare the gross domestic product of countries per capita. For Japan, Poland, and Ukraine, it will be as follows:
| Country | Nominal GDP (USD) | GDP per capita (USD) | GDP Growth Rate (%) | Population (million) |
| ———– | ————————- | ——————————- | ————————————– | ——————- |
| Japan | ~4.46 trillion | ~36,391 | 0.6% | ~123.4 |
| Poland | ~1.11 trillion | ~30,651 | 3.1% | ~36.4 |
| Ukraine | ~225 billion | ~6,980 | 2.0% (IMF), but other forecasts 0.5–1.2% | ~39.5 |
The provided characteristics are extremely informative. In particular, it shows that the amount of material goods created per capita in Poland and Japan differs little, while in Ukraine it is almost 5 times less. Behind this small table filled with numbers are hundreds of years of our history, our present. And if we do not draw the right conclusions, then our future as well.
Note: In the 16th century, our ancestors almost destroyed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — a joint state of the Ukrainian and Polish peoples — to solemnly swear allegiance to the Moscow tsar. For this historical mistake, we paid with the lives of 15.5 million Ukrainians destroyed by three artificial famines on the territory of Ukraine in the 20th century, millions of Ukrainians relocated to Siberia, imprisoned in concentration camps, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians shot during mass repressions, and more than 10 million victims in World War II, where we fought on the side of our historical enemy, Moscovia, against our historical ally, Germany.
As an adequate characteristic of the kinship of peoples, we propose to compare the population composition of relevant countries by their blood groups. In total, including the Rh factor, there are eight of them. Why does using the frequencies of the same blood groups encountered in different peoples for kinship analysis allow us to judge the degree of kinship of these peoples?
How to check the adequacy of such a characteristic? For this, there is one nation whose territory is divided in half by a geographical parallel: Korea (previously, Vietnam was such a country). There is no doubt that before such a division, this country was inhabited by one people.
However, the frequencies at which different blood groups are found in the north and south of the once-united country differ slightly. This would be natural for any other country. But such differences in no way call into question the certainty that it is the same people.
Thus, the level of kinship between South and North Korea can be taken as a standard of kinship for other peoples. If the difference for any two nations is smaller than that for the two Koreas, then we are effectively talking about the same nation to an even greater extent than South and North Koreans. If the difference is larger, then there is a subject for discussion.
But at the beginning of the article, it was noted that mathematics allows direct comparison only of real numbers. How can 8 blood groups be converted into one real number for its further use in comparisons? There are several ways to do this.
For example, one based on mathematical statistics, which allows calculating the correlation coefficient between blood groups of different peoples. We did this using the Pearson correlation coefficient. However, the complexity of understanding such an approach for the average reader does not allow its wide use in journalism.
The metric approach is much simpler. Here, the frequencies corresponding to the blood groups for a given nation are viewed as the coordinates of a point in eight-dimensional space. The population of each country will then correspond to one point in such space.
The distance between them will determine the level of kinship of different peoples. As a unit of measurement for this distance, it is advisable to take the distance between the points corresponding to North and South Korea. Below is a table with such distances between the Russian Federation and other countries of the world on the specified scale.
| Country | Distance from Moscovia |
| ———- | ————————- |
| Ethiopia | 0.79 |
| Algeria | 0.86 |
| Tunisia | 0.99 |
| Albania | 1.01 |
| Jordan | 1.03 |
| Iran | 1.07 |
Note that the distance is equal to unity if 2 countries differ by blood groups in the same way as North and South Korea. The table shows that at such a level of kinship with the population of Moscovia, there is no European nation. And only at a lower level of kinship does the small European nation of Albanians emerge.
However, among the allegedly close relatives of the population of Moscovia, there are ethnicities unexpected for other European peoples, such as Ethiopians, Algerians, Tunisians. It is easy to verify that such an inconsistency arises when we randomly take some numerical values of blood group frequencies and try to compare them with the blood groups of specific ethnicities. Proximity, if it arises, occurs in the most unexpected places or does not occur at all.
I will note that recently it has become customary to talk about the Finno-Ugric ethnic origin of Muscovites. However, the numbers do not show this. Such kinship, if it exists in part of the population of Moscovia, does not constitute the leading ethnos of the country. Likewise, traditionally, Muscovites themselves usually classify themselves as Slavs. However, no Slavic nation qualifies as their closest relative.
But for each country, the literature cites statistical data that corresponds to the average frequency of blood groups per the population of each country. If there is a predominant ethnos among the population of a certain country, as is still observed in the vast majority of countries in the world, we will immediately see the kinship of this population with at least the population of neighboring countries. If such a picture is not observed for Moscovia, it can only mean the absence of a dominant ethnos in that country.
That is, Moscovia is such a mixture of different races and peoples that it is impossible to single out a leading ethnos in terms of numbers. Then who do we have the right to call “Russian” in the ethnic sense of the word? Most likely no one. The word “Russian” effectively means not the ethnic affiliation of this or that person to a certain ethnos, but only their mechanical affiliation to the population of Moscovia.
By the way, why is this name practically the only one among the peoples of the world that is not a noun but an adjective? And have they been using this term as a self-designation for a long time historically? And before 1721, what did they call themselves? Maybe Muscovites, and the country Moscovia? Exactly. It is interesting that at the time when they took it for themselves, current Ukrainians called themselves Rusyns. It is fundamentally important that they called themselves by the noun “Rusyn,” not the adjective “Russian.” On the lands of Western Ukraine, there existed the Kingdom of Rus. Its famous king, Danylo Halytskyi, is well known even to our contemporaries.
Perhaps the same picture as for Muscovites is observed for other European peoples? Let’s check this on the example of Ukraine.
| Country | Distance from Ukraine | | Country | Distance from Ukraine |
| ——————– | ———————— | | ———————- | ———————— |
| North Macedonia | 0.26 | | Denmark | 1.02 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0.28 | | Switzerland | 1.08 |
| Croatia | 0.36 | | Cyprus | 1.10 |
| Serbia | 0.36 | | Estonia | 1.11 |
| Austria | 0.44 | | Greece | 1.12 |
| Slovenia | 0.47 | | Australia | 1.12 |
| Poland | 0.48 | | Spain | 1.12 |
| Romania | 0.49 | | United States (white) | 1.20 |
| Finland | 0.50 | | Belgium | 1.25 |
| Bulgaria | 0.52 | | South Africa (white) | 1.26 |
| Turkey | 0.52 | | Brazil | 1.27 |
| Slovakia | 0.54 | | France | 1.28 |
| Czech Republic | 0.57 | | Lebanon | 1.31 |
| Sweden | 0.62 | | Azerbaijan | 1.31 |
| Israel | 0.64 | | Norway | 1.36 |
| Jordan | 0.65 | | New Zealand | 1.38 |
| Belarus | 0.68 | | Netherlands | 1.39 |
| Latvia | 0.68 | | Portugal | 1.42 |
| Hungary | 0.69 | | Canada | 1.46 |
| Albania | 0.70 | | Italy | 1.47 |
| Georgia | 0.71 | | Moscovia | 1.50 |
| Moldova | 0.74 | | Great Britain | 1.52 |
| Liechtenstein | 0.77 | | | |
| Germany | 0.93 | | | |
| Luxembourg | 0.93 | | | |
As expected, all Slavic peoples turned out to be approximately twice as close to us as North Koreans are to South Koreans — these are Macedonians, Croats, Serbs, Slovenes, Poles, Bulgarians, Slovaks, Czechs, Belarusians. That is, unlike Muscovites, the affiliation of Ukrainians to the Slavs is fully confirmed by this algorithm. Interestingly, most other European peoples who are not Slavs — namely Romanians, Finns, Swedes, Latvians, Hungarians, Albanians, Moldovans, Liechtensteiners, Austrians, Germans, Luxembourgers — are also more related to us than North and South Koreans.
Such European peoples constitute approximately 2/3 of their total number. Even such an extraordinary nation as the Jews belong to our close relatives. (Relevant data taken for Israel, which may mean that the majority of its population has its ethnic roots in Ukrainian and Polish, not Palestinian soil).
It is also important that among the large European nations, it is the Ukrainians who have the most related nations on the European continent (22). By this indicator, the closest to them are Germans (20) and Poles (20). This fact is fully consistent with the claim that it was the Ukrainian land that was the ethnic cradle of European civilization.
And where is the population of Moscovia? It is very far beyond the limits of close kinship with Ukrainians. Among European countries, only Great Britain is slightly further away.
For too long it ruled half the world. Many of its representatives found their home on the British Isles. Among the population of London, the English make up less than 30%.
The Great Roman Empire existed for even longer and on a larger scale. Slaves flowed into the metropolis from all corners of the world. That is why Italy is next to Moscovia.
Interestingly, even Turks and Georgians are our close genetic relatives, significantly closer than the average Muscovite. Calculations based on mathematical statistics give almost the same result.
What global conclusion do these considerations lead to? To the fact that there is no leading ethnos in the Russian Federation. The term “Russian” does not mean ethnic affiliation, but only citizenship of this country. Keeping such a motley community of people in submission is possible only with simple and understandable ideas. One such universal idea is the idea of external military expansion. Perhaps that is why the Empire that arose in the Middle Ages in the north of Euro-Asia, and is now called the Russian Federation, has not missed a single major war — a war for new territories, for the subjugation of other peoples, for the appropriation of their national wealth.
How to radically solve the issue of the existence of a source of constant military threat and territorial expansion in the north of Euro-Asia once and for all? I think that it would be ideal to return this community of people to its ethnic roots, that is, the Russian Federation should follow the path of the Soviet Union. Perhaps then the term “Russian” will gain its ethnic link, and we will finally be able to see them clearly.
Perhaps in their new status, the “Russians” will turn out to be a different nation, and we will still have quite good-neighborly relations with them. But now a bloody war is raging between us, the outcome of which is far from obvious. And this war is not only ours. This war is fateful for all of Europe, no matter how much it tries to evade such a global perception of it. This is a war for the future of all European peoples.
Instead of an afterword. Correlation coefficient of the population of Ukraine and countries of the world
The article proposes an original approach to establishing the kinship of Ukrainians with the peoples of the world, based on metric ratios in an eight-dimensional space of blood group frequencies. However, a similar analysis is possible based on mathematical statistics. An answer to the question about the proximity of blood groups of Ukrainians and other peoples of the world can be provided by the correlation coefficient, which certifies the proximity between two random variables.
As these random variables, one can take the blood groups of two different nations. Each of these random variables can take eight values according to the number of existing blood groups. There are different correlation coefficients.
The simplest mathematical meaning is the Pearson correlation coefficient. It is equal to 1 if two random variables coincide, taking the same values, that is, they are actually one and the same random variable. It is equal to -1 if they are opposite, that is, the values of different random variables differ only by sign.
It is equal to zero if there is no connection between two random variables.
| Country | Correlation coefficient with Ukraine | | Country | Correlation coefficient with Ukraine |
| ———————————————————- | ————————————- | | ———————- | ————————————- |
| North Macedonia | 0.9988 | | United States (white) | 0.9794 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0.9988 | | Portugal | 0.9786 |
| Serbia | 0.9973 | | Norway | 0.9784 |
| Croatia | 0.9969 | | Armenia | 0.9768 |
| Austria | 0.9960 | | Greece | 0.9759 |
| Slovenia | 0.9959 | | Netherlands | 0.9754 |
| Poland | 0.9956 | | Australia | 0.9751 |
| Turkey | 0.9954 | | Spain | 0.9738 |
| Cyprus | 0.9951 | | Belgium | 0.9732 |
| Finland | 0.9945 | | South Africa (white) | 0.9721 |
| Romania | 0.9943 | | Canada | 0.9718 |
| Slovakia | 0.9936 | | Italy | 0.9714 |
| Bulgaria | 0.9935 | | Estonia | 0.9702 |
| Hungary | 0.9932 | | Brazil | 0.9674 |
| Sweden | 0.9927 | | Lebanon | 0.9673 |
| Czech Republic | 0.9926 | | Japan | 0.9650 |
| | | | Fiji | 0.9633 |
| Liechtenstein | 0.9918 | | New Zealand | 0.9613 |
| Israel | 0.9911 | | Papua New Guinea | 0.9606 |
| Latvia | 0.9906 | | Azerbaijan | 0.9576 |
| Jordan | 0.9905 | | Algeria | 0.9571 |
| Moldova | 0.9901 | | Moscovia | 0.9562 |
| Belarus | 0.9899 | | Cuba | 0.9544 |
| Georgia | 0.9881 | | Syria | 0.9498 |
| Albania | 0.9880 | | Egypt | 0.9488 |
| Luxembourg | 0.9876 | | Great Britain | 0.9475 |
| Germany | 0.9876 | | | |
| Morocco | 0.9868 | | | |
| Switzerland | 0.9868 | | | |
| Denmark | 0.9836 | | | |
| Lithuania | 0.9830 | | | |
| Malta | 0.9818 | | | |
| France | 0.9806 | | | |
| Coefficient of correlation for North and South Koreas | 0.9802 | | | |
If the conclusions based on the metric approach have an unambiguous character, the conclusions based on the statistical approach have a probabilistic character. Interestingly, the relative position of countries in both approaches is similar in most cases. There are few exceptions. In the statistical approach, the key conclusions are the same as in the case of the metric approach, namely:
1. Most European peoples are our close relatives, even closer than North Koreans are to South Koreans. This applies to all Slavic-speaking peoples, except Muscovites.
2. Very close relatives of Ukrainians are most Germanic peoples, in particular: Austrians, Germans, Swiss, Danes, Swedes. Austrians are especially close. Even the French turned out to be our close relatives.
3. Surprisingly, at first glance, Jews are our close relatives.
4. But the population of Moscovia turned out to be very far from us, as far as Algerians or Cubans.
5. The conclusion regarding Muscovites that there is no leading ethnos among them remained unchanged in both approaches. Expanding the borders of their state from a small dot of land in the interfluve of the Volga and Oka to the vast spaces of Euro-Asia, the Muscovites gained not only colossal lands in area, where their starting territory effectively lost itself, but they themselves lost themselves among the subjugated peoples.
Author: Valerii Shvets, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Higher School of Ukraine
Illustrative photo: Vanessa Villalba-Mouco, Marieke S. van de Loosdrecht, Adam B. Rohrlach, Helen Fewlass, Sahra Talamo, He Yu, Franziska Aron, Carles Lalueza-Fox, Lidia Cabello, Pedro Cantalejo Duarte, José Ramos-Muñoz, Cosimo Posth, Johannes Krause, Gerd-Christian Weniger & Wolfgang Haak / CC BY 4.0
