Is Russia an Asian or European country?

I've found an interesting phenomenon on dating services, where "European" is a euphemism for a Slavic person. I don't know, if this is used the same among Russians from other post-USSR countries, but this is true at least for Kazakhstan. 63% of Kazakhstani population is Kazakh, 23% is Russian. A racist Russian would write "only Europeans" on the personal page, signaling they don't want to date Kazakhs, who are "Asians" in this context. Kazakhstani Koreans constitute roughly 1% of the population, even more in the cities, in the most populous city of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almaty they form 1.9%. I wonder how this Asian-exclusive attitude extends to them, as Koreans are heavily Russified. So the answer is, when Russians want to separate themselves from Asians, they consider themselves European.

I am Russian and I will disagree with all other posters and say that there is no exact answer to your questionIn geographyLet's take a look at Russia. Notice the "Ural". This is a huge ridge that basically divides Russia into its European and Asian parts. Historically, the Ural mountains always divided Russia into the part that was closer to Europe, European intrigues, wars and politics. It was also closer to many trade routes and was the center of life and politics. The other part, the eastern part of Russia, was always closer to Asian great warriors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan) empires (Russo-Japanese war of 1904), and extremists (Chechnya). We can't say that Russia belongs to either Asia or Europe. It's between the hammer and the anvil. In terms of area, though, Russia is easily more Asian then European, as about 60% of Russian land is to the east of Ural. In mentalityYou sure heard about "Russian mentality". Well if you didn't, then let me brag to you. Russians are famous for their unordinary, out of bounds mind. That means that every man in our country knows how to make Russia the best country in the world. Nobody can be asked to do anything though, but that's another story. The "Russian mentality" is often speculated about, but in fact it's the result of being torn apart between Europe and Asia. Europe always called for contract-oriented societies, liberal politics and democratic governments. Asia always called for despots, empires, and strict social codes. They both always influenced Russia by invading it, trading with it, making pacts. What's the result?The golden (or not so golden) middle. A democratic goverment acting like a despot. Contracts that don't work. The highest amount of non-conformists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonconformism) in the world. Back to the topic of whether Russians consider themselves Europeans or Asians -- mainly, there are two main views on who Russians are. slavyanophilic europeic The followers of the first point of view state that Russians are unique, don't belong to any group. They state that Russia's cultural and political path should be absolutely different from both Europe and Asia. The followers of the second point of view, obviously, state that Russians should stop fucking around and just do like the successful people from Europe do. Concluding I can say that an equal amount of people think they are more European and think they have their own identity.  Barely anyone thinks we belong to Asia. In cultureThere is one more important thing to note. The western part of Russia is more orthodox, business oriented, new trend pursuing, acting all European and stuff. Now consider this picture of Putin with Buddhists. Why? I would say that for the sake of it, but it's not true. The fact is that there are Russian Buddhists in Siberia and neighboring regions. In fact Russian Buddhists were around long before the USSR. The culture was mostly and absolutely influenced by eastern countries. Barely anyone knows it though. Russian Muslims are also a thing. Please get that picture of a dark haired, white skinned and blue eyed Russian out of your head. Russians are very multicultural and I would say mostly at least partly Asian, like it or not. We have so many people from middle eastern republics that you can't deny it. A lot of Russians come from the Middle East and their immigration has a heavy impact on our culture. All in all: we, again, can't say whether we are more European or Asian judging by culture. The culture is diverse and unique and seems to lean more towards Asian. Conclusion There is no certain definition of whether Russians are Asian or European. However if you ask a man in the western part of Russia, he is likely to tell you he is European. If you ask a man in the eastern part of Russia, he is likely to tell you he is Asian. And both are likely to tell you that they are neither.

There have been several views over the last two hundred years: "Russia is Europe, only with truly barbarian laws/habits of abusing lower classes which should be changed." Those who believe in that are usually later described as "very far from the regular people of Russia". Such view has been a heavy cross to bear, as it it was known to cause frustration with "unwashed Russia, country of slaves, country of masters", bring the ire of the oppressive rulers and outright rejection of said Europe. Statistically such attitude reduces life expectancy. "Russia is special, you cannot understand it, you have to believe in it". These lines, wrote by 19th Century Russian noble http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Tyutchev, came as a needed excuse from struggle associated with "1". Such view positively affects life expectancy - Tyutchev scored 70 years against Pushkin's 37 and Lermontov's 26 - as well as creates better earning opportunities. Third Rome/Second Jerusalem/Leader of the World Communist Revolution are nearly identical forms of Russian Exceptionalism promoted from the top to assist educated classes to dump "1" in favor of "2", to get compliance of the public. Saying that, "people who save the world from Nazism" has some ground. Romantic Eurasianism - "http://allpoetry.com/The-Scythians"*. Intellectuals with consciousness believed they must understand their country, yet found "1" too daunting, and came up with that image of people holding the border between West and East. Fascist Eurasanism - despite some similarities exactly opposite to "4". Not a gentle poet trying to coexist with backwardness and brutality, but an evil pseudo-intellectual trying to drag even better people into more backwardness and brutality. (*) apologies to all people of Asian background - the translation is crap, it is not mine. The original uses a very glamorous word to describe the shape of eyes - "raskosye" - rather than the denigrating word that could be translated as "slit-eyed".

Considering yourself someone is a part of self-identity, and it varies depending on the person. Some Russians proudly feel themselves Europeans, and some enjoy being non-Europeans. But I suggest European feeling is closer to truth, and here's why. Russian classical culture. Russian literature, painting, classical music and ballet are not just close to European ones, they have become a solid part of the European culture, making a noticeable dent into European mentality and cultural coordinate system. For Russians, this culture is the core of their identity. Living abroad. When it comes to emigration, Russians prefer Europe or North America. Many of them integrate successfully into foreign societies. But this rarely happens with Asian countries: their cultures and ethnicities are too different to allow for seamless blending.