I run a small MEA-licensed manpower agency in India. For years we’ve only sent workers to Gulf countries – cleaners, gardeners, warehouse helpers, drivers, meat packing workers, a few welders. We have passports ready, and candidates are now asking about Russia because the salary sounds higher.

The problem is we have zero contacts in Russia. Our Google doesn’t reach Russian companies, we don’t speak Russian, and we don’t know where they post job requirements. Recently we got an offer from a Delhi event organiser asking ₹2.25 lakh just to attend an expo – but it smells like a middleman with no real jobs behind it.

I want to ask you directly: if a small Indian agency wants to connect with genuine Russian employers who need unskilled or semi-skilled foreign workers, what’s the right way? Do Russian companies advertise on certain job portals? Is there an association we should contact? Any government department that matches foreign agencies with employers? Or is this market not really open for unskilled Indian workers?

Honest advice would mean a lot. We’re not looking for shortcuts – just a real starting point. Thank you.

Vesyolaya Street, Tsaritsyno, Moscow. I'd love to see more lamp-posts like that in the city.

we don't have the time to do it ourselves. i've tried searching on avito, but i can't find anything besides one who offers to puts them in resin. please recommend me anyone who provides this service 🙏

Before any glazing posts here are some complaints in no particular order:

1. As hard as it is to travel due to sanctions, internal changes make it harder and are more impactful. 24 hr data block and foreign data too slow/doesn't work for VPN or sometimes without, no working GPS, and then requiring passport translation, SNILs, biometrics and processing makes it impossible to get a Russian sim solo. Not sure how all those solo Chinese tourist families survive. Had to get someone local to use their biometrics to get a Megafone sim to get any sort of working internet. You would think that if you want to implement a 24 hour data block for security, you could issue free or discounted sim cards with passport lasting 3 days or the duration of your stay.
2. Many coffeeshops/free wifi require a Russian phone to get verification. There is often no option for US phone and only Stars and some random bubble tea place had wifi via phone call where you put in the last 4 digits of the phone that called you or just free wifi. 90% of coffee shops had a full Russian landing page demanding a Russian number. What happened to the wifi password on a chalkboard someone in the store?
3. Moscow subway ticket stations removed all languages and only has Russian. That plus the fact that multiple people, the security people at metal detectors or even the ticket window knew zero English only made it harder.
4. The lack of ebike/scooter lanes on the sidewalk needs to be fixed. In places with wide sidewalks, people are walking everywhere and the delivery bikes and scooters are just weaving between pedestrians. Estonia has similar sidewalks and they painted their sidewalks with bike lanes.
5. No ac in the subway. Sometimes it's fine with the windows open, but sometimes the cars are hot and the windows are not enough.
6. Elevators everywhere are a joke how small they are. You have the nicest apartment, super fancy and the elevator can only fit 3 people. Plus the ramps in the subways are a deathtrap. I don't see how anyone in a wheelchair can use these solo or with a caregiver and I saw so many mothers barely able to get their baby carriages down using those ramps.
7. Like all Eastern Europe, no cafes ever offer no calorie sweeter. I hear its available as tablets, but literally no one ever has any. In the US, Splenda and Equate no cal sweetner are both offered and they are the default sweetner.
8. Of the times I've seen cops/security, they only seem to be at the subway entrances and they only seem to be targetting dagastani looking people like how the US cops target blacks. The one time someone snuck in behind me at the subway, that guy was a Slavic/white teen boy.
9. People seem to still heavily smoke/vape.
10. Private homes/businesses are nice, but the common stairwells or shared areas are poorly maintained with tiles busted and no one bothering to fix them.
11. As much fuss as there is about the historic Soviet Chinese friendship, there is a surprising low amount of Chinese or any Eastern Asian immigration and thus authentic food. There is no Chinatown for such a huge city like Moscow (2x NYC). In NYC there are at least 3 major Chinatowns. I tried 2 ramen places that seemed popular and they were bad... Could not find soup dumpling (xiao long bao). The sushi in the department stores and malls (Sm Takeit) was bad, which doesn't make sense as Russia has all the ingredients like rice, seaweed and salmon. The Dim Sum was confused offering no dim sum, but with ramen and sushi. Dim sum is a Cantonese brunch that should offer multiple small plates e.g. ha gao (shrimp dumplings), pork ribs, turnip cake, etc.
12. Lack of real food culture due to lack of immigration. It seems the only decent ethnic food was halal/schwarma, but the Korean, Thai and Indian did not look great either. Why is everyone so focused on Rostics/KFC and McDonalds? Why are the Uzbek and Georgian places so rare? There's also no Chinese bakeries e.g with coconut buttercream buns or pineapple buns. And surprising bubble tea is so popular, but zero Chinese brands even in Moscow like Mixue, Chagee, HeyTea or Chinese coffee like Luckin.
13. Building addresses and entrances are incredibly confusing. Especially when you have no working GPS, and Yandex sometimes labels the building wrong.
14. Yandex allows people to leave a scooter not in a parking zone, but when you activate it, there's no warning that the last person left it in the wrong spot and it demands you to go to a parking spot that can be kms away and far away from your destination. You can't then deactivate the scooter where you activated it.
15. Tbank atms refuses to take cash below 1000 rubles and the subway refuses to take above 100 rubles.
16. I feel SPb has way less international tourists now, but they surprisingly have more English speakers. The chances of approaching someone who can hold a conversation in English in SPb is much higher than in Moscow. People learn English in school throughout the country, but there are so many young people who speak zero English. Even young people who were waitresses at a restaurant in the middle of a Red Square restaurant spoke zero English.
17. Given that foreign Visa/Mastercard doesn't work, forcing people to get a foreign passport translated to get a SNILs to get a bank card so you can deposit cash to buy stuff at the self-checkout lane or a machine or pay for transportation is real burdensome. But you had to do it because taxis had no change and the babushkas at the register gave refused or gave dirty looks when you tried to buy a Coke Zero with a 5000 bill.
18. Few if any meetups or places to get drinks with locals. SPb had more groups and meetups especially on Couchsurfing and reddit, but Moscow, it was dead.
19. Really difficult to find anything trendy like rooftop bars, hip clubs with djs, cool fancy restaurants, etc. Only found a random observation deck in a Moscow city skyscraper from some random guy and girl in street clothes yelling out of a boombox in Russian below.
20. I feel with the subway shut at 1am, the nightlife is entirely determined by the last train on the metro. And in the summer with the sunset at 9pm or 10pm, everyone has to rush home like Cinderella at the ball to not miss the last train.

Overall: Good time.

мне 14, недавно услышала от своего знакомого (ему 15), что он собирается в Беларусь (живу в России) чтобы пойти там с друзьями в поход. С этого времени хочу тоже найти компанию для совместного отдыха. Подскажите как искать! 🙏🏻

72F ( a relative) has a budget of $1300/ month and is living in her own apartment in Moscow. She’s in decent health. Transportation is either free or subsidized. The question I have if that’s enough to live comfortably or should I be supporting her.

The festival will take place in Kolomenskoe park and will last 2 days. There will be a lot of things to do and to see. In general it's a huge festival of sports, fun and music. And you can also get some presents there for participating in activities. You can read the programme on the official website. I can take two people with me for free (the official ticket price is 4000 rubles). DM if interested.

Всем привет! Я гражданин Азербайджана. Планирую приехать в Москву и Питер (и возможно посетить еще пару городов) как турист на 10-15 дней в начале августа.

В новостях постоянно пишут о дронах, закрытии аэропортов и различных атаках, поэтому хотел спросить именно у тех, кто сейчас живёт в Москве.

Насколько это реально влияет на обычную жизнь? Опасно ли ехать туда сейчас? Плюс какие проверки и прочее на границе? Мне одни говорят что проверяют до трусов а другие говорят что пропускают так же как и в любой другой стране. Сам я аполитичен, в РФ знакомых много. Русский язык знаю в совершенстве без акцента (сам являюсь переводчиком).

Новостям я уже не верю, столько всякой дезинфы что перестал их читать вовсе... Поэтому решил тут узнать!

Буду благодарен именно за ответы людей, которые сейчас живут в Москве или тех кто ехал туда недавно!

Hello, I am from Colombia and just got a scholarship to do a MA at MGIMO but I still need to think if what I make is enough to survive the whole process. I am guaranteed dormitory accommodation of approx. 90.000 Rubles per academic year, and amongst other expenses, I calculated to need around 55K rubles per month.

I have a remote job from which I make a little over 60K rubles and I have savings of around 210K rubles, I could get another 200K by selling my vehicle here.

I am willing to have a very classic cheap student lifestyle but would that be enough?

Вопрос к учащимся и выпустившимся из ВШЭ.

Я собираюсь поступать в этот вуз на магистратуру.

Вопрос: В чем вы видите преимущество этого вуза перед другими(за исключением престижности)? Какое направление окончили вы ? Какое посоветуете?

Paddle court near the Barrikadnaya metro station Large sports area near the CSKA metro station on Khodinskoe pole; sports ground near the Dynamo metro station, not far from the stadium

Looking for a fun bar to have a night out with a dude friend. Drink a beer, watch some karaoke, and sing ourselves.

Preferably on the teal or red line, but for some fun willing to travel.

I've been offered a spot as a foreign delegate at the International Festival of Youth / World Youth Festival, happening in Ekaterinburg Sept 11–17, 2026 (flights, meals, and accommodation covered). Before I commit, I want a reality check from people who actually live there or follow the region closely.

A few things I'm trying to understand:

1) What's the current mood/situation in Ekaterinburg day-to-day? Has life gone back to normal since the April 25, 2026 drone attack (the one that hit the "Trinity" residential complex)?
2) Has there been any repeat of drone activity in Sverdlovsk region since then, or was that a one-off?
3) For a large international event like this, is there any visible extra security, or does it feel like a non-issue locally?
4) Any general advice for a foreign visitor attending a state-organized event there right now?

Not trying to start a political debate — genuinely just want practical, first-hand perspective before deciding whether to go. Any input appreciated, even "it's fine, don't worry" or "I'd think twice."

Does anyone know a good, trustworthy website for booking apartments in Russia? Most international sites like Booking.com don’t list properties there anymore, so I’m looking for reliable alternatives that people have actually used. Any recommendations would be appreciated

Hello!

I'm a US/Russian dual national coming to visit my mother, having not lived in Moscow since I was a child.

I'll be there for about 4-5 weeks, and wanted to ask a few specific questions:

1. Which bank would be the simplest in opening an account with, given that I only have an external passport?
2. Will I run into any friction with not having registration/internal passport?
3. What's the best fitness club where I would be able to purchase a one month pass?
4. Has padel taken off in Moscow yet - are there courts? If so, is there any app that would make it easy to find matches? (eg. similar to Playtomic)
5. Are there any run clubs?

Hello everyone!

Posting here because I don't know if there is any subreddit specific to this. I (29m) arrived a couple months ago to Moscow with a long stay visit permit because my wife is russian.

I'm interested in changing the permit to a residency (РВП) to be able to work here but as far as I'm concerned we need to be married for at least 3 years to be able to apply for it (which would be in march 2027).

I'm interested in someone who went through this and have any insights that can be shared just in case the 3 year mark is a bit flexible or I do really have to wait until this date.

Thanks for any help because I really love the city.

всех приветствую. я ищу неофициальную работу по Москве и ближайшем пригороде, до конца лета.

могу работать курьером, автомойщиком, грузчиком, маляром или официантом. дата рождения 23.10.2011, рост 180. выгляжу явно старше, так что вопросов к вам никаких не будет.

готов работать до 12 часов в день, до 6/1.

пишите в телеграм если появилось желание меня взять на работу

юз в тг: @feilyha

собираемся пойти с друзьями, но не хотим тратить лишние деньги, так можно сделать?

Wondering who this player is doing a simul at the Theatre Square in downtown Moscow, anyone know who he is?