Russian is a bit like Sanskrit, a compilation of certain features of dialects spoken in different areas, so that the mix is mutually intelligible across them, without precisely matching any.
Isn't that true for any european language? There is a standard language and many local dialects that are more or less close to that standard. That doesn't make standard Italian, or standard German, or standard Russian, or any other standard language artificial, in the sense of Esperanto or Volapuk.
