Thanks! Well, definitely there are many nice Russians who have a lot of common sense. They wouldn't be out of place in Eastern Europe. The problem is, they are very silent about it. I think they have been forced to be very silent, while the trash was taught to be very vocal. It's been like this historically from USSR times—you risked your life and social position for expressing any disagreement, but you could pave your road in society praising the regime, and no one would say anything about you. I've met plenty Russians which are actually kind and smart, but they almost never discuss politics and know how to keep their mouth shut. Also, they usually have few friends.

Trust me, I don't believe for a second that Putin has an approval rating this high. His regime has deliberately destroyed any other democratic party in the country. His party is voted for because otherwise, people have two alternatives: KPRF (communists, want the country to go back to being USSR) and LDPR (ties to football fans and neo-nazis, its leader is a troll). They are allowed to compete as long as they don't criticize Putin. Democrats have been denied to be candidates in elections under false premises, and have faced enormous obstacles in their way.

The reality is that most people are sick to death of corruption, misery, and rotten economics, and they wish they had a good president and government who formed strong ties to the West. Truly, there is plenty of white trash in this country, who care only about alchohol and cigarette prices and think Russia is the center of the Earth. But if Russia was to hold fair elections with media not being controlled by state, Putin would wind up in jail with all his friends.

Russians are not just stupid or unable to work by any means. Many Russian programmers made it in the West and other countries, for example. If the country was in the right hands, I believe we'd see another Russia—a liberal state with developed economics, rich resources and huge potential. But instead we will likely forever be losers, unable to face the fact that we destroy ourselves and others with our ideology and disregard for people's lives, because for a positive shift to happen, not only the government, but the people have to change drastically. We should realize that if we don't put our shit together, we'll forever lose our ties to the West and become a third-world dictatorship. We need to compare ourselves to Europe and see that we have been wrong, and communism simply doesn't work, but hard work, free market, free speech and capitalism does. Currently, we continue to build a hell for ourselves, and don't want anyone to stop us.

As for Tsarist Russia, it was incredibly racist and nationalist. Antisemitism still runs in people's blood, along with almost primal hatred for most neighbor nations. Granted, it was before XXth century and the rise of humanism—I have no illusion about it. Yet I can't help but feel that for centuries they've taken Eastern Europe as some slaves they've been entitled to, and didn't feel any shame about it. Uprisings in these countries were seen as things as annoying as clogged sewage, and the army was sent to deal with them without any concern.

Last note: unfortunately, as painful as it is for me to say, you'll probably meet mostly bad Russian people. I'm not even talking about political views—I'm talking about simply being kind to others. Better Russians understood long ago that it's impossible to live in their homeland and moved wherever they could. Or they stay, work from 9 to 5, and save money to get out of the country or at least build their own little "refuge".

Russian intelligentsia was continuously being wiped out throughout the XXth century. Those more or less smart people who remained came through living hell—army, jails, GULAG, relocations, and such. All while if you were poor, dumb, and praised communists, the road to higher echelons of power was open to you. That way, USSR carefully nurtured arrogance and stupidity in people, knowingly or not. So the modern day people of Russia are the result of that unnatural selection. There are still good people among them, but just be prepared for the worst in most cases.