About the breed

Russian Blue is one of the most beautiful cat breeds. Their stunning plush coat is short, thick but fine and standing up soft and silky with a silvery sheen prominent whisker pads, vivid green almond shaped eyes and the large elegant ears are easy to fall in love with. 

​

It is believed that the Russian Blue cats may have originated in the port of Arkhangelsk in Russia and  also used to be called  in past Archangel Blues. It is  also believed that sailors took Russian Blues from the Archangel Isles to Great Britain and Northern Europe in the 1860s.

 

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 show  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. During World War II, Russian Blues began to decline in numbers.Breeders wanted to revive the Russian Blue breed and introduce bluepoint siamese to their breeding programs.

 

The development of the breed had been continued  in Europe and the USA. Different breeding program in different parts of the world led to what we could see today in the Russian Blue breed - 3 different types of cats:

​

• English (classic) type

• Scandinavian  type

• American type 

​

Originally the Russian Blue was only seen in blue, but then  2 new colours have been added — Russian Black and Russian White.