Apparently, historically there WAS a man named Yuri whom lived in Russia around the same time as their revolution and also had a connection with the Tzar's daughter, Anastasia, just at the time SH: C has taken place.
The Yuri of history was said to be a mad scientist (fusing souls with monsters? that's pretty mad
) whom left Russia a good time before, but moved back during the revolution.
I guess that just goes to show how much time and effort they put into making SH: C. That they would historically research all of that and integrate it all together. All of that together is simply genius, especially considering that they did this for other areas and came up with a way to integrate ALL of this together, along with the fusions and crests.
Simply amazing.