What makes a Russian, Russian

[nb2000]

Recently I encounter a number of new immigrants from all corners of the CIS the majority of them say they are Russians however when I ask them where in Russia they came from many say Odessa others Latvia, Litvia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and so on so forth it's only a minority that come from areas like Baikal or (Leningrad)St Pietersburg.
I do recognize that language is an unifying force but . How abouth the Russian goverment How does it consider these people? Does it recognize them at all or nothing to do with them?
Also many others tried to skip the question of passport issue before they received a visa telling me that they were given visas to emigrate on a piece of paper without the need to rely on the country of departure passport. I can't hardly believe these stories since.
Others said well we did not have passports but now we have travelled to Israel and we hold dual citizenship.
can some enlighten me on this rather obscure subject please?

[jutka]

They could be telling you the truth. During the Soviet times, Russians (real Russians) did live all over the USSR, and many still are.
The people who I met who are Ukrainan, Armenian, Georgian, etc, never lied and said they were Russians. They were very proud of their background.

[nb2000]

Yeah! well thanks but not the answer I'm looking for. You see I don't subscribe to the Russian Diaspora Theory otherwise the Russian goerment would have called the all home.
However I have met people from Ukraine their Russian language speakers but still Ukranians and met others that said they came from Ukraine so I wonder
How officially governments treat and recognize these people as Russians in exile or just Russian language speakers kind of like Spanish speakers in Latinamerica (that does not make them Spanish at all)there are many countries each of them racially, culturally,industrially and economically very different from each other

[RAMBO]

I met a guy here in Florida who said he was from Russia, so I asked, "What part?"

He said, "Georgia."

I responded, "But Georgia is an independent country now!"

He said, "Hey, if I say Georgia most people in Florida say that I don't talk a person from Georgia (in the USA) --So then I have to explain I'm from the Other Georgia Overseas Near Russia. Then they say --Okay you're from Russia! So to make things simple and save time I say I'm from Russia!"

Americans are largely ignorant of geography!

[nb2000]

Thanks for your kind comparison
You'd confuse me more because The Americans have hijacked the term Americans for themselves America (a geographical identity for a region)is from North so South Pole so far as I know and 12th of October is Columbus Day.
So in South America we consider the Americans as Yankis or simply Estados Unidos (even though this term is also wrong because there are two more countries in the region as US these are Mexico and Brazil hehe)! And I can give you much more detail explanation but this isn't the forum for that.

You are right regarding Georgia but the rest of the CIS is not that case and governments do have their jurisdictions regardless of individual feelings of identinty these are overun by geography and politics.
I also have friends who came from Manchuria in China but in days of yore they were officially considered as Russian citizens by the USSR but I don't think this is the case today.
So coming back to the question remains unanswered.

[Ania555]

That's a very interesting question that u brought up. I don't think I can answer it, but, my father is Russian, and my mother is Ukranian. And she lived most of her life in Moscow, Russia. She owns property in Russia, and nobody seems to care whether she is Ukranian or Russian. I don't think Russia is concentrating on that subject yet, I mean they have so many other things to worry about right now.

Anka-

[RAMBO]

Dear nb2000:

My understanding is that until the Revolution, the British colonists in North America thought of themselves as Englishmen, however, when the war broke out they started calling themselves "Americans" because -- carried away with revolutionary zeal -- they planned to bring all the Americas - North and South -- into one Republic. In fact, they invaded Canada (The 14th Colony) before a formal declaration of independence with England.

Of course, as history records, the revolutionists had to be content with far less, although the USA did get control of about 40% of North America by the end of the 19th century.

I suppose that Canadians, Mexicans, Argentinians, Cubans, etc. -- all people who live in North & South Anerica -- have as much right to call themselves "Americans" as do people from the United States! It's just that residents of the USA claimed the name first, and now it has become tradition.