Rusyns

Rusyns (), also known as Carpatho-Rusyns (), Ruthenians, or Rusnaks (), are an East Slavic ethnic group from the Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe. They speak Rusyn, an East Slavic language variety, treated variously as either a distinct language or a dialect of the Ukrainian language. As traditional adherents of Eastern Christianity, the majority of Rusyns are Eastern Catholics, though a minority of Rusyns practice Eastern Orthodoxy. Rusyns primarily self-identify as a distinct Slavic people and they are recognized as such in Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia, where they have official minority status. Alternatively, some identify more closely with their country of residence (i.e. Polish, Slovak), while others are a branch of the Ukrainian people.

Rusyns are descended from an East Slavic population which inhabited the northeastern regions of the Eastern Carpathians. In those regions, there are several Rusyn groups, including Dolinyans, Boykos, Hutsuls and Lemkos.

Of the estimated 1.7 million people of Rusyn origin, only around 110,000 have been officially identified as such in recent ( 2012) national censuses. This is largely because some census-taking authorities classify them as a subgroup of the Ukrainian people, while others classify them as a distinct ethnic group. Provided by Wikipedia