Animosity from the Russians?

12 comments

1. I haven’t been to Russia, but I’ve been to a bunch of countries. I’ve never had anyone express animosity towards me because I’m American. I feel like most people don’t have a whole lot of like individualized animosity based on country of origin, except in cases of like long standing ethnic hatreds.

2. I was in Russia about six years ago, before the current tensions really ramped up. And, no. People there were pretty friendly and welcoming, for the most part. If they responded to my American-ness at all, it was in a positive way. Like, they don’t see many Americans in some of the parts of Russia I visited, so they thought it was cool that they got to meet one.

   It probably isn’t like that anymore, though.

3. this was in 2008 so I guess overall relations were a bit better then but no everyone I met in Russia was very nice to me, one time I made friends with a guy in a casino (lol). He invited me to an impromptu party at his apartment and we drank long into the night, and he told me that had never met someone from the US before and was honored that I would go be a guest at his place and stuff lol. it was awesome.

4. I took some German language classes in Germany with other immigrants, some of whom were Russian. There wasn’t any animosity at all. We spoke often, went to restaurants together, etc. I know you specifically asked those who’ve visited though.

5. I encountered mostly curiosity, but animosity from old women but this was back during the cold war

6. I went to Russia in 2012 and I had a good time. People seemed genuinely interested in the states and were most welcoming. It was honestly a place I thought I might explore more and was hoping to get back sometime. I would hope that Americans of all people would understand that general citizens shouldn’t be held accountable for how the people in charge act especially when it’s a dictator. Not to say some of the populace doesn’t support what’s going on right now, but I truly believe that most Russians are just l trying to live normal lives just like we are.

7. My grandma went just before the fall of the USSR. The tourist stuff was all Potemkin Village stuff like stores set up for weatherman tourists. She found it ridiculous.

   The people she met were absolutely wonderful though according to her.

8. No. I went to Vladivostok in 2019 and had a great time. My negative experience was the driver that took me to the airport suspiciously didn’t have any change when I paid him. 🙄 I didn’t feel like arguing and just let him keep it. It was only a few bucks anyway.

9. Nope. And my first trip was in 1989 at the end of the Cold War. I’ve known and worked with many Russians for years and my interactions with individual Russians have been very positive.

10. I was there way back at the end of the Cold War (winter of 1988) and people were friendly enough. The country was poor, backwards and depressing as hell but no one threatened me or anything like that.

11. I’ve never been to Russia but I met Russians in Germany and they were the nicest people ever. Really the only thing they did “against” me was lie about speaking English because they wanted to practice their German with me since we were in a German immersion course, and they assumed if the American knew they spoke English I’d just use that with them lol

    I did get to visit Ukraine tho and people there were also very friendly and went out of their way to help me when I was lost. They were even understanding when I used a few Russian phrases with them once they knew I was American and obviously didn’t speak Ukrainian

12. A very close friend of mine lives in Russia. He lives near Volgograd and is part of the Kalmyk people (never knew they existed before I met him). He’s regularly interested in the United States and is incredibly friendly. I’ve never gotten any animosity from him because of my nationality, and we both love to share aspects of our cultures we find interesting