The Russian Blue is a naturally occurring breed that may have originated in the port of Arkhangelsk, Russia.[1] They are also sometimes called Archangel Blues.[2] It is believed that sailors took Russian Blues from the Archangel Isles to Great Britain and Northern Europe in the 1860s.[1] The first recorded appearance outside of Russia was in 1875 at the Crystal Palace in England, as the Archangel Cat. The Russian Blue competed in a class including all other blue cats until 1912, when it was given its own class.

The breed was developed mainly in England and Scandinavia until after World War II. Right after the war, a lack of numbers of Russian Blues led to cross breeding with the Siamese. Although Russian Blues were in America before the war, it was not until the postwar period that American breeders created the modern Russian Blue that is seen in the US today. This was done by combining the bloodlines of both the Scandinavian and British Russian Blues. The Siamese traits have now largely been bred out. The short hair and slategray/blue color is often seen in mixedbreed cats, which can have an impact on breeders and showers due to mislabeling a cat as a Russian Blue.[3]

Russian Blues are plush shorthaired, shimmering pale bluegray cats with emerald green eyes. Guard hairs are distinctly silvertipped giving the cat a silvery sheen or lustrous appearance. They have been used on a limited basis to create other breeds (such as the Havana Brown) or alter existing breeds (such as the Nebelung). Currently they are being used in Italy as a way to make Oriental Shorthairs healthier and more robust called RUS4OSH in FIFe.[4]

Russian Whites and Russian Blacks were created from crosses with domestic white cats which were allegedly imported from Russia. The first line was developed by Frances McLeod (Arctic) in the UK during the 1960s and the second line produced by Dick and Mavis Jones (Myemgay) in Australia in the 1970s.[5] By the late 1970s, the Russian White and Russian Black colors were accepted by cat fanciers in Australia as well as in South Africa and now also in the United Kingdom as Russian cats (in different classes). However, the Cat Fanciers Association and FIFe does not recognize any variation of the Russian Blue. Due to the breeding with Siamese after WWII there are colorpoint genes floating around. If you breed 2 carriers together then you will get a litter of mixed colors blue or white with bluepoints like a Siamese.