Afro-Russians (Russian:Афророссияне,romanized: Afrorossiyane), commonly known asBlackRussians (Russian:Русские негры,romanized: Russkie negry), are citizens of Russia who have any ancestry from any of theBlack racial groups ofAfrica. The Metis Foundation estimates that there were about 30,000 Afro-Russians in 2013.[3]
Representatives of African peoples in the Russian language have been commonly callednegry.[4] The wordnegr comes fromSpanish:negro (the color black in Spanish) through other European languages (German:Neger,French:nègre).
Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia (1672–1725), and hispage-boy
There was never an observable number ofpeople of African descent in Russia, even after Western Europeancolonization of the continent. For centuries Russia was too isolated to interact with Africa. Russia's non-involvement in the colonization of Africa or theAtlantic slave trade prevented it from developing significant relationships with African tribes or colonies. Despite this,Abram Petrovich Gannibal, a Russian of princely African descent, became a general and nobleman in theRussian Empire. After being kidnapped fromLogone (in contemporaryCameroon) byOttoman forces as a boy, he was sold to Russian diplomatFedor Golovin[5] in 1704 and gifted toTsarPeter the Great, who freed and adopted him.[5][6] As an adult, he rose to nobility, and served the Russian Empire in both civil and military capacities.[6] He is also a maternal great-grandfather to the famed Russian poetAlexander Pushkin.[5]
After the revolution, several African-American families came to theSoviet Union under the auspices of theComintern. Among them wereOliver John Golden and his wife Bertha Bialek, bringing with them a group of 16 African-American experts in the cultivation of cotton; well-known African-American poetLangston Hughes with a group of 22 filmmakers;Paul Robeson with his family; and many others. Some of them stayed in Russia and their descendants still live there.[citation needed]
When African nations gainedindependence from colonialism, the Soviet Union offered scholarships to young people from these nations. About 400,000 Africans studied in the former Soviet Union between the late 1950s and 1990.[7]
The mixed race African descended children were called "festival children" because of their appearance and timing of their birth.[8]Festival children is a household stereotype or cliché that appeared under the Soviet Union in the 1960s-1980s, implying that children were born to Soviet people and one of the parents could be a person from Africa, Latin America, or foreign Asia.[9] Specifically, this phraseology refers to those born under the Soviet Union from different ethnicities or nations that are distant around the world.
It is believed that the first significant arrival of Africans,mestizos andmulattoes was for the6th World Festival of Youth and Students held in Moscow in 1957. Presumably, the combination of these words could have been influenced by the opening line of the festival's anthem: "Children of different nations, we live the dream of peace...". ("Hymn of the Democratic Youth").[10][11][12]
Afro-Russian social movements have emerged in recent years as a response to the discrimination and marginalization experienced by people of Russian-African descent.[citation needed]
The Sputnik Association is a social movement founded in London, UK in 2006 by a group of Russian emigrants and Afro-Russian people. The association was created to provide a platform for Russian emigrants and mixed-race Russian people living abroad to connect and celebrate their shared cultural heritage.[23][24]
^Koppers, Peter (3 December 2021)."Maria Skorsiuk". London: The Marius Petipa Society.Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved10 November 2025.
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