Hanna, I must say that embassies of EU countries are not being very nice while giving visas for Russian citizens either. I personally know two people who's request for German visas was denied without ANY explanation after they filled all the forms, stood in all those long lines, payed fees and stuff. The only answer they got was "sorry, but we have the right to refuse without explanations and you have payed for the consideration of your visas, the fact you have payed fee does not guarantee that you shall actually get a visa". And those were young decent middle-class people without any criminal background or such. My own mom, a respectable old lady, when she was getting a tourist visa at Sweden embassy a couple of years ago had to bring reference to her property and bank account to prove that she is not a beggar and not planning to emigrate. All this things are quite humiliating, so Russia is not the ONLY bad player in this game.