# Is Russian culture western?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-russian-culture-western/619717>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 23, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-russian-culture-western/619717 "2012-04-23T17:56:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Otkakonmiskilic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Otkakonmiskilic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otkakonmiskilic)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-russian-culture-western/619717/1 "2012-04-23T17:56:47Z")

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Is contemporary Russia culturally any distinguishable from the general traits of Western European and North American culture?

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**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-russian-culture-western/619717/2 "2012-04-23T22:01:09Z")

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Depends on what part of Russia you’re talking about. Eastern Europe doesn’t just consist of Russia – but of a great many different countries as well.

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**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-russian-culture-western/619717/3 "2012-04-23T23:27:40Z")

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Russia proper (which has been essentially culturally European at least since Peter the Great) or the Russian Federation? I think things are probably still a bit different way out in parts of Siberia.

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**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-russian-culture-western/619717/4 "2012-04-24T00:54:25Z")

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> [@njtt](#):
>
> Russia proper (which has been essentially culturally European at least since Peter the Great) or the Russian Federation? I think things are probably still a bit different way out in parts of Siberia.

Yes, Russian culture is relatively homogeneous and essentially European from east to west, right out to Vladivostok; the few remaining [indigenous people](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_small-numbered_peoples_of_the_North,_Siberia_and_the_Far_East) in the Far North are largely assimilated to Russian culture as well (at least as much as the Inuit in Canada, say). It’s really to the south, as you approach the Caucasus, that social and cultural norms become less recognizably European.

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**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-russian-culture-western/619717/5 "2012-04-24T21:31:39Z")

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Actually, Russian culture is not “Western” per se. “European” fits in some contexts, but when speaking of the “Western World” or “Western Civilization”, Russia is considered to be separate, and is mostly a world of its own (along with some other Slavic countries). The cite below defines it as “Orthodox”:

[![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Civilizations_map.png) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Civilizations_map.png)