Why Russia couldn't become like Scandinavian social democracy/more European at the time of Gorba?

[Victor]

We do not know what kind of mentality our distant ancestors had, "merya", "chud". Russians in general differ from Ukrainians and Belarusians by some powerful ancient core. I'm not talking about Suomi, we have our own Finnish ancestors. Slavs, of course, are in the majority, but there is something that distinguishes us.

Some Finn tribes were assimilated by Slavic majority in exact regions, it cannot define Russian metality, it differs only in the Russian North (I already discussed it) on territory from Yaroslavl to Arkhangelsk, were both incoming Slavic settlers and local populace had mutual influence on each other.

[Victor]

We do not know what kind of mentality our distant ancestors had, "merya", "chud". Russians in general differ from Ukrainians and Belarusians by some powerful ancient core. I'm not talking about Suomi, we have our own Finnish ancestors. Slavs, of course, are in the majority, but there is something that distinguishes us.

primitive but accurate map

[ugochaves]

Some Finn tribes were assimilated by Slavic majority in exact regions, it cannot define Russian metality, it differs only in the Russian North (I already discussed it) on territory from Yaroslavl to Arkhangelsk, were both incoming Slavic settlers and local populace had mutual influence on each other.

Russians of the North differ from the Russians of Belgorod in what way?

[Aila]

Nice. Thanks for the links! I'm also a fan of that place. My dad's roots are in Tver oblast. They had quite typical Russian looks, a bit Siberian influenced to my eyes. I can try to find posts with pics later. I remember visiting their summer cottage and i loved the nature/vibe. I remember having deep conversations about life with my dad's mom while they were fishing late, i felt like a little Rasputin for a moment. We also talked a bit about Russian history and Finns and Estonians in general, but not much.
My mother on the other hand is a mixed bag, her dad is Ukrainian (with mixed Polish roots) and her mom was of Polish-Siberian mix with Finnish in the mix i assume. Some Catholic Poles moved there before the revolution or it was a made up story and they were just sent to Siberia because of their roots. Anyways, one of my grandparents ends up being Ukrainian with Ukrainian identity. He had quite an interesting looking (Balkanish overall) and there were all kind of theories about his roots, like some Jewish and some Gypsy, but DNA test results showed me none. I wanna test my mom, but i don't think the tests will reveal my everything about my roots.

I would love to see some of your pics.
So far, I haven’t found any dna relatives from Tver, only an odd few from Pskov, but heaps from the White Sea Karelia (they must have all been related to one another there).

Funny you should mention Rasputin …
Apart from this relative (I’ve already mentioned before):
http://medalirus.ru/georgievskie-kav...rasimovich.php
from Repola (the map is about Lönnrot's sixth journey 1835 to the White Sea Karelia):
https://www.juminkeko.fi/wp-content/...1-1024x776.jpg

A member of another branch of the family served in Tsar Nicholas the II household and her husband was a Polish man working as a life guard (I assume) in the Tsar’s horse regiment.
If she wasn’t a “blood-stopper” herself, she/our family would certainly have known who were.
Great-great something grandfather did visit her from time to time at The Great Gatchina Palace and at The Tsarskoe Selo i.e. Saarskaya Myza Palace, if I remember correctly.
A part of that branch still lives in St. Petersburg.

[Aila]

Some Finn tribes were assimilated by Slavic majority in exact regions, it cannot define Russian metality, it differs only in the Russian North (I already discussed it) on territory from Yaroslavl to Arkhangelsk, were both incoming Slavic settlers and local populace had mutual influence on each other.

Even though were were/are Shamanic, with the first Orthodox hermit monks who arrived on our shores, we found one spirit and a common understanding despite our differences.
Their legacy was one we could be proud of, which was later taken to Alaska:



Pomors were open minded Orthodox Christians as well, used to the old Novgorod ways of self-governance, hence self-reliant, adventurous free thinkers, who also loved the wilderness so we did find our common ground there & since we were all into hunting, fishing and trade, we allied for common good I suppose.

[Aila]

Oh my

Just found this & it will not go down well in Moscow:


But of course, it is given, that all of us do recognize the historical & cultural unity of our 4 peoples: Karelians, Veps, Saami and the Russian Pomors.

[Lemminkäinen]

Some Finn tribes were assimilated by Slavic majority in exact regions, it cannot define Russian metality, it differs only in the Russian North (I already discussed it) on territory from Yaroslavl to Arkhangelsk, were both incoming Slavic settlers and local populace had mutual influence on each other.

If we look back 3000 years and believe science, only speakers of following languages belong to Finnic people related to Finns. Everything else is fairy tales.

Estonian
Izhorians
Votic
Lydic
Veps
Livonian
Karelian
Finnish.

Votic, Lydic and Livonian are dead languages and Izhorian, Veps and Karelian are near extinct.

[ugochaves]

If we look back 3000 years and believe science, only speakers of following languages belong to Finnic people related to Finns. Everything else is fairy tales.

Estonian
Izhorians
Votic
Lydic
Veps
Livonian
Karelian
Finnish.

Votic, Lydic and Livonian are dead languages and Izhorian, Veps and Karelian are near extinct.

The Merya people used to be considered Volga Finns because of the similarity of the name with Mari. According to new data, these were most likely Baltic Finns related to Veps

[ugochaves]

If we look back 3000 years and believe science, only speakers of following languages belong to Finnic people related to Finns. Everything else is fairy tales.

Estonian
Izhorians
Votic
Lydic
Veps
Livonian
Karelian
Finnish.

Votic, Lydic and Livonian are dead languages and Izhorian, Veps and Karelian are near extinct.

The Merya people used to be considered Volga Finns because of the similarity of the name with Mari. According to new data, these were most likely Baltic Finns related to Veps

[Aila]

If we look back 3000 years and believe science, only speakers of following languages belong to Finnic people related to Finns. Everything else is fairy tales.

Estonian
Izhorians
Votic
Lydic
Veps
Livonian
Karelian
Finnish.

Votic, Lydic and Livonian are dead languages and Izhorian, Veps and Karelian are near extinct.

You are a Finn and you talk about data.
Not that I am ungrateful, mind you - so don’t get me wrong.
But, I talk about identity rather, that is Ingrian, Karelian, Veps, Saami, Russian Pomor (& a bit of Komi).
Identity, which is a *felt* old Novgorodian cultural sphere you have never known.