Thread: Minorities in Russian culture

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I'm curious to know if an Asian community exists in Russia? And are they subjected to alot of racism or discrimination? And relating to the question, are there other prominent ethnic minorities in Russia, especially in the urban cities?

Spasibo bolshoye.

I am not living in Russia but I know very much about that country.

I'm curious to know if an Asian community exists in Russia?

And relating to the question, are there other prominent ethnic minorities in Russia, especially in the urban cities?

Actually, Russia is the multinational and multicultural country. The Russians are only the most common nation in the Russia. Usually, the Russian minorities live in they national territory but it is not a law. I can compare situation in Russia with situation in UK. UK is not a country for Englishmen only. Scotland, North Ireland, and Wales are the parts of the UK and each of them has its own common nation who has its own language.

And are they subjected to alot of racism or discrimination?

What did you mean?

What did you mean?

Подвергаются расизму или дискриминации?

There was an asian boy in my class (when I was in school in Russia) and he wasn't treated any differently than the white russian kids

I've seen a lot of interracial (Asian-Russian) couples in Moscow and no one pays any attention. Moscow is a very international city and there are people from all over the world living there. I've also noticed a lot of racially mixed Russian rock groups on tv. I think the old ideas of racism are fading with the majority of the young people in Russia even though the skinheads there get a lot of press.

I've said it 100 times before, and i'll say it now. The russian ESL teacher at my school looks like she is chinese. I actually thought she was the chinese ESL teacher(we have lot's of chinise immagrants here too), untill one day i was in the ESL class, and she walked up to me and started talking russian. I thought she was going to tell me to leave or something, but now she is pretty fond of me.

Ok, she was not BORN in russia, but kazakhstan. But she said she went to moscow university, and lived in moscow for 6 years before she came to the US. She has never said anything but kind words about russia, and russia's people.

Thanks for your insight and stories. I have been thinking of studying abroad in Moscow or living for a short time but have been wary of advice to not look like a 'foreigner' or 'out of place'. I was concerned that my Asian heritage would attracted some unwanted attention.. but thanks for the relief.

.. but thanks for the relief.

I met a Chinese guy here the other day who has been chased by скинхеды twice; friends of his have been beaten up. In all honesty, I get feeling that Moscow is much safer if you are white.

A friend of mine who've lived in Russia (Karelian Republic) tells me there's this day that all the skinheads in Russia march, and on that day you should definantly stay inside if you've got an accent and you're not particularly "white". What day is this?

He also tells me that there is quite a lot of common racism (prejudice, non-agressive racism) against some minorities... Mostly the Moslem ones.

Originally Posted by Mihkkal

A friend of mine who've lived in Russia (Karelian Republic) tells me there's this day that all the skinheads in Russia march, and on that day you should definantly stay inside if you've got an accent and you're not particularly "white". What day is this?

April 22, Hitler's birthday.

Seems pretty stupid to me... Hitler, who thought of russians, and other slavic people as sub human vermin, and worked for years klling them, trying to destroy them off the face of the earth... not to mention, invaded their country and tried to take over. These skin heads walk around and worship him ? They celebrate the birthday of a man, who if he had his way would have killed them in a split second ? it just makes no sense.

I thought his birthday was on 4-20. The only reason I remember this is because that is the same day that all the stoners smoke a lot of pot and also when the Columbine school shootings happened...

It is April 20th.

So do the skinheads really march on 4-22 and you remembered Hitler's birthday wrong, or is it 4-20 and you remembered the date wrong?

Originally Posted by Pravit

So do the skinheads really march on 4-22 and you remembered Hitler's birthday wrong, or is it 4-20 and you remembered the date wrong?

Pravit, Hitler's birthday is 4-20. The 4-22 is birthday of Vladimir Lenin.

Originally Posted by JB

I've seen a lot of interracial (Asian-Russian) couples in Moscow and no one pays any attention.

Not in Moscow only. In the Ural the situation is the same. There are a lot of asian nations live here - such as tatars, bashkirs, khantys, kazakhs etc. and a lot of "white" like russians, ukrainians, belorussians, germans, hebrews and the like. I've never seen racism here between these nations. Actually, there is a couple of days in the year when for guys who came from Kavkaz it is better to stay at home. These are "День пограничника" and "День ВДВ" - 28th of may and some day in the end of august when the former frontier guards and commandos celebrate their professional holydays.

I thought 4-20 was the day everyone smokes because thats the police code for it or something.

Originally Posted by Tambakis

I thought 4-20 was the day everyone smokes because thats the police code for it or something.

I don't know what that has to do with the topic. Some people say that's the time of the day, though.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Seems pretty stupid to me... Hitler, who thought of russians, and other slavic people as sub human vermin

He actually changed his opinion when he visited the Ukraine. He saw many healthy blonde men and said that "we need this good southern blood to re-vitalize our nation" or something like that. That is recorded in Picker's book. Soon thereafter the racial policy of the Reich was adjusted and ethnic Slavs were "promoted". The other peoples of the USSR were still considered untermenschen.

Irrespectively, his nationalistic ideas are sound for any nationalistic group, the word "German" being replaced with some other one. They regard him as a pioneer who was the first to implement a thorough nationalistic policy on a very wide scale, thus setting a model.