HomerianSymphony , 1 month ago

So calling them Russian is technically accurate

The word Russian has two meanings in English. It can mean relating to the country of Russia, or relating to the Rus ethnicity.

The Russian language distinguishes the two. The first is росси́йский. The second is ру́сский. Both words are translated as “Russian” in English, which causes confusion in English, but there’s no such confusion in Russian.

These people (Dagestanis) are Russian in the first sense, but not the second sense.

Historically, the second sense of “Russian” included Ukrainians and Belarussians (so you could say Ukrainians were Russian in the second sense, but not the first sense) but it’s become controversial to do so since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.