Russian Blue Cat Genetic Diversity Project

The Russian Blue cat breed is thought to trace its origin to the Russian port of Arkhangelsk on the White Sea from cats brought to England and other parts of Europe by sailors. Russian Blue cats are characterized by their short, dense silver-tipped blue fur, blue nose and paw pads, and vivid emerald-green eyes. Establishment of breed status dates to early 1900’s which makes the Russian Blue an older breed, relative to many other modern cat breeds. With declining breeding population after World War II, Russian Blues were outcrossed to cats with similar phenotypes such as the British Shorthair, blue-point Siamese and even blue cats from Finland, with distinct lineages developing in England and Scandinavia. In the United States, lineages from England and Scandinavia were combined. Today’s Russian Blues thus reflect some level of introgression from a few other breeds. From the outcrossing program, variations of Russian Blues have also been produced that are full-color (Russian Black) or all-white (Russian White). However, only cats that meet the breed standards for Russian Blues can be registered as such with most breed organizations.