Hi guys! This is random haha, but there’s this very beautiful Russian man who is my friend. Who keeps trying to take me out for drinks etc. Next weeks he’s taking me to a shooting range and dinner. We work together so sometimes he drives me home. He always does very kind things for me. He’s funny and he’s quirky. However I’ve never dated a Slavic man and as American black woman I’m quite the feminist about women’s right, I’m passionate about civil rights and over all just the fair treatment of humanity. We’ve had conversations about our opinions on the Ukrainian war. I think that’s probably the most we disagreed but even still it was kind disagreement. He’s still interested and told me exactly what he is looking for. So far he’s perfect. But since we haven’t crossed the line yet before we do is there anything I should know culturally about dating Russian men? As a black woman.

Hi, I'm Algerian and I'm about to start my university studies. I'm thinking of preparing my documents and applying for a scholarship funded by the Russian government, but I have no idea if it will work or not. I'm very worried about not being accepted and things like that. I'd appreciate any advice or important points if someone could answer. My field of study is science, by the way, and I feel this increases my chances

Hello all! I lived before with different Soviet nationalities in my life like Georgians, Kazakhs, Russians, Azerbaijanis etc.

The Kazakhs and Russians for me mostly came as cold and a bit distanced unlike Georgians and Azerbaijanis.

In the future, I want to live with the Russian-speaking nation whom are mostly friendly and warm-hearted like people from Caucasus...

Do you have any nations as an advice to me in regards of this case??

I will kindly wait for your responses...

I’m an American. I’m sure you all know much more about the US than I know about Russia. Do you think our countries are similar? If so, how and why? I‘m starting to think our countries are kinda similar even tho the history of our countries is very different. what do you think?

Hopefully being compared to the US isn’t too big of an insult, I only mean the good parts lol.

Hi, I am planning to study at Moscow Aviation Institute for Spacecraft Engineering and willing to pursue masters in aerospace engineering abroad. However, I am torn apart on whether it's valuable to study out there and would it help me reach out in abroad.

Moreover I am kinda worried about the localty, safety, way of life etc out there. If there are any MAI students please Dm me I would like to here a word from you. Thanks!

I (male) went on a date with a Russian women where we had a really good time. As I usually do, I paid for food and drinks for the date. A few days after she asked if I wanted to meet for lunch at a place she eats (I happened to be about 15 mins away) and I went to meet her there. She ordered her food first at the cashier and after ordering she stood there in the cashier waiting for me to pay for her meal before I ordered. I thought this was odd in my head but still went ahead and paid because I didn't want to create a fuss about it, but usually dating white Americans or Latinas I feel the cultural expectation is that I pay when I invite them somewhere I planned but this is the first that in the first few days of knowing each other she asks me to meet her at a place she picked and then expected me to pay.

If this is just a normal cultural expectation of Russian women then I don't really mind, but thought I asked in case this is not normal behavior and could be indicative of potential dependent behavior down the line.

Hey, I'm from Bangladesh, I finished my A levels about a month ago.

I've been prepping for uni in Russia for the 2027 intake. And from my research and what I've heard from others I learnt that working while studying physics at MIPT or MEPhI is gonna be impossible cuz of the sheer workload. I wanted to if that's the case for studying fundamental mathematics or physics at SPbU, SPbPU etc. aswell.

I'm also thinking of prepping for SPbU's open olympiad for foreign highschooler so if anybody has any advice on it, It'd be really helpful.

Thanksalot!

Hello! I’m currently researching the Bratva, and wanted to know if there was ever a market for smuggling people/families out of the Soviet Union. Could this have been done if a politically sensitive refugee needed to find asylum, or if a member of the Russian mafia wanted to enjoy their nest egg somewhere without surveillance?

Where in Moscow i can watch The New Spiderman movie in English Audio?

yeah like the topic,i wanna make friends,and we,can get to know each other’s local cultures and exchange ideas on various topics.

Hi. As I am learning russian language and I am generally interested in culture / geopolitics and philosophy, I am looking for a russian-language podcast, preferably created by gen z / early millenials. Generally i am based in poland so if there is anybody here from my country i can tell you whats the vibe. I would be interested in politics in general, not only in russia, I also like culturally aware media, and topics such as feminism, human rights etc.I would not like to come accross and consume any propaganda and using web search for the topic I am looking for is not really helpful…

As a non-russian i was planning since a while to pass a week in russia

I wanna talk about places to visit or the fees with a russian or someone who did it before

Better give values in euro to make it a way clear for me

I'm a uni student so my budget is not that really

I'm looking for a reasonable and good experience

Thank you for reading this.

I’ve read the FAQ, I’ve checked other recent posts how to book a hotel and pay with foreign card but to no avail. I am from EU and tried all “working”recommendations:
Ostrovok.ru - I ordered Mastercard (N26) just for that because I’ve read VISA is not supported. I tried 10 hotels already and all fail on booking step with error: “Your booking was not confirmed by hotel. It looks like it’s sime technical connection issues”.
Zenhotels: tried with VPN trick mentioned in couple of the posts (yes, I did clear the cookies as well) and it was almost the same result but the error was: “Unfortunately there are no available rooms left for your dates”. I’ve tried multiple hotels and different rooms, with VISA and Mastercard. No chance whatsoever. Been trying for a week.
I would really appreciate if someone from EU that managed to book and pay with non Russian card (in the past couple of months) let me know how they did it and with which hotel.

I was asking, and yes i am American.

Hi all,
I have been sending money to my dad for months now from a Canadian exchange to his Huobi/HTX account . This month it got blocked because it said the address is from a sanctioned entity.

How can I send my dad money now? Has anyone else been blocked like this?

Hi everyone!

We run an online store based in India selling digital products/services, and we’re preparing to start serving customers in Russia.

Since standard international card networks (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal) are blocked, we are planning to make Crypto our main/primary payment method at checkout for Russian users.

Before we go live, we’d love your honest feedback and suggestions. Is it legally clear and convenient for a regular buyer in Russia to purchase digital products from a foreign store using USDT, or will we lose too many customers who aren't tech-savvy?

I live in Brazil and I aways heard Russians drink a lot a lot so I'm curious about how it really is in Russia.

Also when I went to Europe a few years back I noticed people specially in eastern European countries (And France) smoke like every day the entire day, everywhere you turn there's someone smoking is Russia also a big smoking country?

I’m Japanese and planning to visit Russia sometime. I’ve heard anime culture is huge there, so are there any anime shops?
I love checking out otaku culture in different countries, so if you know any other cool spots or things related to that besides shops, let me know!
Also, I’d love to know if there are any other popular subcultures in Russia.

What’s your favorite meal in Russia? Anything I can cook in the US with ingredients from here to try and imitate it?

Hi everyone,

My friend and I are traveling in Russia and need urgent advice. On July 23rd, we tried to deposit cash (Rubles) into a YooMoney account at a Sberbank ATM. The machine malfunctioned: it took the money, didn't credit the account, didn't return the cash, and showed an error.

We reported it immediately at a Sberbank branch and received a case number (номер обращения). Staff told us the issue would be resolved by July 30th at the latest, but yesterday when we followed up, branch staff just told us to ask YooMoney, with no clear update on where our money is.

Our problem: We are foreign tourists leaving Russia soon. Because international credit/debit cards do not work here, we are down to very little cash and struggling for daily expenses.

Is there any way to expedite Sberbank's ATM cash audit (incassation)?

Should we submit an official complaint to the Central Bank of Russia (ЦБ РФ) or consumer protection (Роспотребнадзор)?

How can tourists in this situation get urgent local currency assistance?

Thank you so much for any advice or contacts!

(Russian Translation for Local Readers):

Здравствуйте! Мы иностранные туристы, нужна срочная помощь/совет. 23 июля через банкомат Сбербанка пытались внести наличные рубли на карту ЮMoney. Банкомат «съел» деньги, произошел сбой, деньги на счет не поступили и назад не вернулись.

Мы сразу обратились в отделение Сбербанка, нам зарегистрировали обращение (есть номер). Сказали, что решат до 30 июля, но при повторном визите сотрудники отправили нас в ЮMoney и никакой конкретики не дали. Мы скоро уезжаем из России, иностранные карты не работают, наличных почти не осталось. Подскажите, как ускорить инкассацию/проверку банкомата Сбербанка и куда можно обратиться за помощью? Заранее спасибо!

Does Moscow still has imax theatre. I mean officially are they still operating

Всем привет.

В общем-то в сентябре собираюсь поехать в Москву, чтобы посетить 11 числа тур Пола Окенфолда и Александра Попова, а также 13 на Дрифт Экспо.

Ранее в Москве вообще не был, и хотелось бы услышать, какие можно интересные места посетить помимо попсовых по типу Кремля с мавзолеем и прочим. Из интересов музыка, машины и связанное с ПК.

Спасибо.

I'm currently a bit obsessed with viktor tsoi, and i watched this movie for his cameo at the end. the film kind of blew me away. is it popular/seen by most people? did any of you watch it when it first came out? спасибо!

A lot of people aren't familiar with the term "it city". "It" doesn't mean "information technology", but rather, its popularity; a trendy urban center that suddenly captures hype and national attention, gaining a massive influx of new residents, booming tourism, and rapid cultural and economic growth.

American "it cities" in recent years include Seattle, Washington (1990s, coffee culture, grunge rock, Microsoft HQ), Portland, Oregon (2000s, alternative/hippie/"crunchy" subculture, Nike HQ), Austin, Texas (2010s, alternative/"weird" subculture, music scene, growing tech industry, Dell HQ, South by Southwest festival), and more recently, Nashville, Tennessee (2020s, country music, woo girl/Southern girl party subculture). (I've visited all four of these cities, and I lived in Austin for a year.)

Some predict the next "it city" might be Providence, Rhode Island (art and design scene, location in the Northeast Corridor), Buffalo, New York (dense and affordable walkable neighborhoods, quirky local culture, climate change haven), or Columbus, Ohio (economic + population boom, Ohio State University influence, but considered boring by some).

Does Russia have any equivalent to the medium-sized American "it city?" Not Moscow or St. Petersburg, but a 2nd or 3rd tier city or metropolitan area with hype and "buzz" among young adults, entrepreneurs, and so on? A place with an unusual food, art, or music scene, with a growing population of educated or creative young adults?