Russian historian Igor M. Diakonoff stated that the modern inhabitants of Iran are descendants of mainly non-Indo-European groups, more specifically of pre-Iranic inhabitants of the Iranian Plateau: "It is the autochthones of the Iranian plateau, and not the Proto-Indo-European tribes of Europe, which are, in the main, the ancestors, in the physical sense of the word, of the present-day Iranians."Diakonoff, I., M., "Media", Cambridge History of Iran, II, Cambridge, 1985, p.43 [within the pp.36–148]. This paper is cited in the Journal of Eurasian Studies on page 51.
Russian historian Igor M. Diakonoff stated that the modern inhabitants of Iran are descendants of mainly non-Indo-European groups, more specifically of pre-Iranic inhabitants of the Iranian Plateau: "It is the autochthones of the Iranian plateau, and not the Proto-Indo-European tribes of Europe, which are, in the main, the ancestors, in the physical sense of the word, of the present-day Iranians."Diakonoff, I., M., "Media", Cambridge History of Iran, II, Cambridge, 1985, p43 [within the pp.36–148]. This paper is cited in the Journal of Eurasian Studies on page 51.