The idea that the Uralic and Yukaghir languages are related is not new.
A genetic relationship between Uralic and Yukaghir was argued for in Jukagirisch und Uralisch ('Yukaghir and Uralic'), a 1940 work by Björn Collinder, one of the leading Uralic specialists of the 20th century (Greenberg 2005:124).