🌍The Russians have a cosmopolitan origin and history, with influences from various corners of the globe.
🌐Russia is believed to be the homeland of the proto-Indo-European peoples, with the expansion of the Indo-European language family beginning there.
🌏The Russian ethnicity covers a large area, stretching from Norway to North Korea, making it one of the largest ethnic groups in the world.
💥The Mongol invasion nearly wiped out the Russian population, but the genetic impact was low as the Mongols rarely settled in the conquered areas.
🌲The Cossacks played a significant role in the Russian conquest of Siberia, settling on the fringes of the empire and assimilating other ethnic groups.