Shock No. 1 everybody here is russian

When I just came to Paris I had this neighbor lawyer. We will call her Taja. She was already pensioner, but still worked some times at her agency. She was very happy to learn that I am from "eastern Europe" and with that told me that she was russian. When I asked her to explain me a bit more how she came to live in Paris, it appeared that her father was a ukrainian nobleman from tsarist Russia. I asked her if that did not mean that she is ukrainian herself, but she told me that she does not see any difference.
So that was my firs shock in Paris: all sarmatians call themselfs russians here, because russian identity is really strong here in contrast to that of other sarmatians such as Ukrainians, Belarussians, Lithuanians etc.
Sometimes, when I am wearing my ushanka or la chapka in french, I start wandering if I am not becoming russian myself...