Oh yes, I just realised that this thread was started by none other than myself, a couple of years ago! I can answer my own question now, I think.

Well, I can say now that for Ukrainians and Belarussians they are VERY nice and patient with people who speak poor Russian. Particularly Ukrainians. Apart from three minor incidents, I had no problem at all travelling in this region and speaking only Russian with people. The three incidents were with officials. And my Russian is really appalling. My grammar is terrible. Everyone was kind and helpful, or neutral. Several people went to great lengths to help me.

Try this approach in Paris and people will be ruder than you could ever imagine! People in Sweden would simply ignore somebody who speaks the language as poorly as I speak Russian.

I think Russian "language snobbism" is directed more towards native speakers, or maybe "nearly" native speakers. Clearly, educated Russians are very proud of their language and do not like to see it abused or dumbed down. But they are not snobbish towards learners from other countries.