explain to me what the hell this would mean?
Nothing and everything? I'm not telling you, I'm just being helpful becasue you all Russians on this forum seem to be lost. Like you can't asnwer as simple question:
Where is your land of origin? What its borders? What are Russians? What is your history and culture?
You seems to really strugging here.
So, I'm going tell you what I think:
1 there is no Russian ethnicity or a nation. During 18th/19th/20th century whan most of the nations arose, or formed their modern sel awarness on the base of territory, culture, history, ethncity.
You had nothing you had your ruler, his people 'elite', his subjects with diffirend degree of servitute.
What was your culture? One absolute ruler, his subjects, an expanding empire and Ortodox Church as a tool of the empire.
Who could become a Russian - anyone as long as agree to be a slave to the tzar, pretend to be Ortodox and share pride in expansion and empire.
There many ethnicties in today Russia but Russian. Russian can be anyone who is a part of a state.
2 The Great Dutch of Moscow it is your starting point.
You seems to be confused by Kiev, it has nothing to do with you. You don't even speak the same language and never did. Russian is Rus wirtten and read by a Greek and it comes from Ortodox clergy that at one time or the other moved to Moscow from Kiev.
You started calling yourslef Russia at the end of 17th century and it was a kind of terrtorial claim on land of the Rzeczpospolita.
Russian is more similar to Bulgarian that to the old Slavonic that people outside Dutchy of Moscow used long time ago not to Ukrainian.
Your culture - your writers came about at the end of the 18th century, few of them and rather obscure. Before - nothing really.
Why do you deny the existence of Russians?!
I don't know? Is that becouse you cann't prove to me that you exist! What you can say? You had opportunity to prove me wrong many times and nothing.