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The term German-Russian is used in three somewhat different senses. One meaning is to describe people of German ethnic heritage who live in Russia and have adopted Russian culture. The most prominent example was V. I. Lenin, whose mother, Maria Alexandrovna Blank, was a Lutheran of Volga German ancestry. The Soviet spy Vilyam Genrikovich Fisher, better known as Rudolf Abel, was a German-Russian.

The first meaning may be contrasted with Germans who have remained in enclaves with distinctively German culture such as the Volga Germans. However those Volga Germans who emigrated from Russia and the Soviet Union are often referred to as German-Russians or Russian-Germans as well.

A substantial number of German-Russians from the Volga ethnic enclave, Russian-Poland Vistula German villages, and also from the German-Russian Black Sea Colonies, emigrated to the United States and Canada during the great wave of immigration from approximately 1880 to 1910. Many of these immigrants settled in the American Midwest states of Wisconsin, North & South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Minnesota and the Canadian western territories and provinces such as Alberta. The lure of cheap farmland, freedom, and avoidance of military conscription enticed many to migrate. Most were very successful, and contributed significantly to North America's agricultural production and ethnic heritage. This large migration ended largely with the outbreak of World War I, and subsequent rise of the Bolsheviks, and the Communist state. Another group immigrated to the West after World War II due to expulsions by the Russians and others. Until recently, Germany has welcomed these volksdeutsch Russians to return for economic opportunities.

Many researchers have written about these German-Russians, including Joseph Height, and Dr. Karl Stumpp, but as a group they are largely overlooked in popular history. German-Russians are also referred to as "Black Sea Germans."

Finally, in the history of the Russia there was a period, initiated by Peter I of Russia, when foreigners were invited to Russian service. In particular, St Petersburg Academy of Sciences hosted a large number of prominent persons of German origin: Georg Wilhelm Steller, Peter Simon Pallas and many others. Some of them (and their descendants) assimilated into the Russia, others eventually returned to Germany, but still they are considered Russian Germans.

The history of Russian Germans as an ethnicity is covered in detail in the German minority in Russia and Soviet Union article.