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Here we go again - it's YOU who call this woman Russian, but Russians themselves wouldn't consider her to be Russian,
You are sounding more and more like Konstantin Kassimovsky and Aleksei Vdovin.
As I alluded to earlier, is there a Russian alive outside of the racist nationalist cited above who would disavow the Russianness of Poet Aleksandr Pushkin or General Mikhail Kutuzov? I doubt it.
The citizens of Russia are termed Rossiiane. However, not all Russian citizens are ethnic Russians - russkiye. It is true that ethnic Russians are in the majority, an estimated 82% of the population today. But there are significant numbers of other ethnic or national groups in Russia too: Tatars, Chechens, Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Armenians, Finns, Germans, Jews, Buriats, Bashkirs, and many others. Currently there are over 100 different ethnic or national groups in Russia. Russia is thus a land of great ethnic diversity. Complicating matters further is the fact that, in past generations, large numbers of people from these various minority groups have assimilated, that is, they have taken on ethnic Russian identity. For example, in late tsarist times it was possible for Jews to become ethnic Russians by being baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church. Some non-ethnic Russians married ethnic Russians and brought their children up as ethnic Russians. Some non-ethnic Russians simply russified their names. And so on. All this means that many people who call themselves ethnic Russians today have mixed ethnic ancestry. As a southern Russian proverb has it: Papa turok, Mama grek, a ya russky chelovek (Papa is a Turk, Mama is a Greek, but I'm a Russian).
You are sounding more and more like Konstantin Kassimovsky and Aleksei Vdovin.
Didn't remember who they were, so I had to look them up. You made me laugh for real, because I am not one of the Russian nationalists, but precisely one of those people described in your passage.
And yes, I've been raised by the Russian part of my family, quite snobbish, intellectual and demanding, that most likely was of some Northern European Roots - Scandinavians or may be Germans, I dunno.
I remember in my childhood that framed portrait of some woman with placid, icy face, dressed in 19th century outfit, typical for that time hair-do and blue eyes. ( It was not in color, but for some reason I perceived them to be blue.) I thought somehow that it was a picture of someone famous from older times, some member of tzarist family or something like that, since I couldn't relate to this person at all, until I've been told that indeed it was a picture of my own great-grand-mother . With time I've figured that the middle sister of my grand-mother was a spiteful image of her, but I couldn't recognize it because of the modern clothing and all. But at least I've figured out why I always perceived that woman as blue-eyed, although I've never seen the color)))
Both of my grand-fathers came to Moscow from the different parts of the former Russian Empire, thousands miles apart; one from the territory that used to belong to Poland, another one - from the territory that used to belong to Iran. I took the most after the latter one, since his seemed to be the most dominant genes. ( Although - what's the "most dominant genes" in this case remained a question, since my previous generations were so pasty-white and blue-eyed, my mother still remained pasty-white with blue eyes, although her hair now were pitch black))) (OK, after all we are on genealogy forum so genetics are quite curious thing. )
Anyways, my Russian roots or Russian upbringing are unimportant in this case, but my looks are.
Because, as an insider, I'm telling you who/what ethnic Russians perceive as "Russian" and what not, and looks in this case definitely matter. It's another thing that part of Russians ( and Russian culture in general) is very inclusive, and plenty of Russians absolutely don't care about all these admixtures or different ethnic backgrounds - all that matters to them is "the soul" of a person, his/her personal traits. The Russians from my paternal side of the family were like that; during the festivities everyone was invited to the table in that hospitable house - the Jews, the Caucasians - any friends of their two sons and relatives and everyone was greeted with the same warm welcome.
Now Russians from my maternal side were something else; don't want to go into all the details, but some memories still make me chuckle in this respect. They were not mean people in any way, but rather something from the classical literature, describing the old pre-revolutionary Moscow society, with all its gossipy life, certain traits and perceptions. Some members of older generation of my extended family gave me a nick-name in my childhood that I couldn't understand until I became older. As it turned out, it was a Georgian girl's name from Stalin's favorite song, which meant to indicate my general Caucasian background, with no intent to offend. They definitely liked me, but the point remained - I was not not quite Russian, I didn't look like one, and you know what? In my case, when I was young, I was not the one to complain.
Now let me brag a bit here, because this is what Persian/Azeri girls look like at their best, and part of my family was coming from this stock.
The only thing I could сry about at that point was that my hair were not black enough, because I had two northern-looking grand-mothers...
But all right, this is all fun stuff from my distant past, so going back to the subject - indeed everything described in your passage is valid. This is what's in question in today's Russia, the national question, the definition of what "Russian" is, and Russians are deeply divided by this very definition. They are, in this respect, are not all that different from White Americans; some don't care about the skin color or ethnic background, and some have deep-seated hatred/dislikes, no matter what the laws are dictating to them. As the Russian proverb puts it - "other man's soul is in the darkness' - meaning you can't really know what's going on there. And the more Russians find themselves in dire economic situation in post-Soviet Russia, the more pressing the national question becomes for a number of reasons, that I don't want to address them here, since it's already a political matter. ( I will mention however that the opposition figure in Moscow that the US political circles support in their bid against Putin's grip on power, is indeed a Russian nationalist "lite".)
Let's not forget that on one hand Russian culture (and Russia's very existence) is based on combination of different lands/people and inclusiveness, yet on another hand the word "pogrom" came in international circles from Russian language for a reason.
Anyways, my Russian roots or Russian upbringing are unimportant in this case, but my looks are.
Because, as an insider, I'm telling you who/what ethnic Russians perceive as "Russian" and what not, and looks in this case definitely matter.
Sorry but your "insiderness" and the citation of your family's beliefs don't count for very much which probably lays at the heart of my adamant opposition to your arguments in general and this one in particular.
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But all right, this is all fun stuff from my distant past, so going back to the subject
I keep on hearing about those "blond haired" Eastern European Jews, but I am yet to see one.
I've seen enough of Eastern European Jews in my life ( not to mention that I have them in my family as well,) but I have no idea what "blond hair-blue eyes" people are talking about, so I've already described what I know/observed on this subject earlier in this thread;
So... in case of Finno-Ugric Russian ( or any kind of ethnic Russian for this matter) married with Eastern European Jew (nothing unheard of by the way, as in case with my grandfather,) the most predictable result is that dominant genes ( i.e. dark hair/dark eyes) will take over blond/hair/blue eyes. This recessive gene however, might kick in down the line again in one of the grand or great-grandchildren, if the next generation will marry again blue-eyed/blond hair Russians. (Have an example of this in my own family as well - quite a few of my siblings are blond.) In this case this Russian child will still have Jewish admixture ( a quarter, or one/eights or what's not.) That's the way I see it.
I don't know where you live or what Jews you know but I have have blond haired blue eyed Eastern European Jew who lives in my home. My husband. His mother and other relatives were the same.
I grew up in a heavily Jewish area of NY. I would say that in the Ashkenazi (Eastern European) population blond hair and blue eyes occurred with about the same frequency as it did in the general population. As two recessive traits they were less common than other combinations. If I had grown up in the suburbs of the Twin Cities where there is a huge Scandinavian population it may have been the default appearance.
After traveling to Russian and Ukraine and meeting many people from those countries I would say that blond and blue in both places are present but not the norm. There are also dark haired people with a Mediterranean appearance and a majority of people who fall somewhat in between.
I had additional experience when I worked for seven years in Eastern European adoption. There is a common perception by lay Americas that Western Russian and Ukraine are filled with pale eyed platinum haired people. I'd say half of all requests were for children with this appearance.
There were healthy children who were routinely turned down because they were"too dark".
While I'm not Jewish all of this "visual genetics" sounds very creepy and Nazi-ish to me.
In Eastern Europe Sheena; I lived there long enough to know what Eastern European Jews look like, particularly that I happened to live right across the street from the biggest synagogue in the country.
I am not talking about how Eastern European Jews look in Twin cities.
On top of that I've read enough of books on WWII with pictures from archives and saw enough of footage with not only Jews from Ukraine/Russia, but other Eastern European countries as well.
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After traveling to Russian and Ukraine and meeting many people from those countries I would say that blond and blue in both places are present but not the norm. There are also dark haired people with a Mediterranean appearance and a majority of people who fall somewhat in between.
I had additional experience when I worked for seven years in Eastern European adoption. There is a common perception by lay Americas that Western Russian and Ukraine are filled with pale eyed platinum haired people. I'd say half of all requests were for children with this appearance.
There were healthy children who were routinely turned down because they were"too dark".
The main reason for the majority of Americans who were looking to adopt from Ukraine/Russia was to find a younger child who'd not look all that different from adoptive parents, so obviously they were looking for children with specific characteristics. Those children ( healthy, normal children) were most likely more difficult to find than children of ethnic minorities - those who were "too dark" as you've described it.
During Soviet times the ethnic minorities were taken care of, their basic needs were covered, but with the fall of the Soviet Union Central Asians were hit the hardest, so no surprise that children of migrant workers were ending up in orphanages, with no system of support in place for their mothers. ( Just an example, but it could be not necessarily Central Asians - any ethnic minorities, really...)
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While I'm not Jewish all of this "visual genetics" sounds very creepy and Nazi-ish to me.
I understand why it might sound creepy to an American; I do understand as well, what
"In Christ there is no Jew, no Greek" exactly means. However we are not there yet, even if some people would like to believe otherwise. So as an a old-worlder, I simply see things for what they are.
Stop what exactly?
There is a long history of Jewish presence in Russia/Ukraine, their trials and tribulations there, their input in Russian culture, the Pale of Settlement in Tzarist times, the Pogroms, the Soviet Jewish Republic that was created specially for them as the result of Stalins' National policies in 1934, Jewish Autonomous Oblast - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
And the last but not least my own grandpa, ( but that's a different story, since he was a devoted Communist)))
Beware I can y ak here about my own family all I want, because it's a genealogy forum))))
Russia's expansion into northern Asia was no different to the colonisation of the New World or Australia. The area east of the Urals was never inhabited by European people, rather native people who would have been classified as 'Mongoloid' and look more like Asians, most like Mongolians and Koreans and Inuits to those not familiar with Buyrats, Yakuts, Evenkis and other Tungids. European Russians have indeed spread into Siberia, however, especially the larger cities. I'm not sure how many of them are mixed with the natives, but I think the natives are now a minority in most states of Russia.
Secondly, there is a 'cline' in genetics between the most European Russians near the Ukraine border (and in Ukraine and Belarus) and those of the Far East. There's also central Asia, which includes people like Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Uyghurs, the peoples of the Steppes (descendants of Huns and Tartars) who would look 'in between' Mongolian and European.
Russia's expansion into northern Asia was no different to the colonisation of the New World or Australia.
It was different, because Russians were more accepting of the local population comparably to Anglo-Saxons.
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The area east of the Urals was never inhabited by European people, rather native people who would have been classified as 'Mongoloid' and look more like Asians, most like Mongolians and Koreans and Inuits to those not familiar with Buyrats, Yakuts, Evenkis and other Tungids.
From what I remember, the native people of Siberia are related to American Indians.
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European Russians have indeed spread into Siberia, however, especially the larger cities. I'm not sure how many of them are mixed with the natives, but I think the natives are now a minority in most states of Russia.
What "states of Russia" are you talking about?
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Secondly, there is a 'cline' in genetics between the most European Russians near the Ukraine border (and in Ukraine and Belarus) and those of the Far East.
Again - what are you talking about?
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There's also central Asia, which includes people like Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Uyghurs, the peoples of the Steppes (descendants of Huns and Tartars) who would look 'in between' Mongolian and European.
Unless bigger and more muscular built to you is a trait of "European origin" - these people people have nothing to do with Europeans. They are the remnants of nomadic tribes that have been roaming Central Asian steppes for centuries.
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)
because this is what Persian/Azeri girls look like at their best, and part of my family was coming from this stock. 
so going back to the subject - indeed everything described in your passage is valid. This is what's in question in today's Russia, the national question, the definition of what "Russian" is, and Russians are deeply divided by this very definition. They are, in this respect, are not all that different from White Americans; some don't care about the skin color or ethnic background, and some have deep-seated hatred/dislikes, no matter what the laws are dictating to them. As the Russian proverb puts it - "other man's soul is in the darkness' - meaning you can't really know what's going on there. And the more Russians find themselves in dire economic situation in post-Soviet Russia, the more pressing the national question becomes for a number of reasons, that I don't want to address them here, since it's already a political matter. ( I will mention however that the opposition figure in Moscow that the US political circles support in their bid against Putin's grip on power, is indeed a Russian nationalist "lite".)
