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It is true for russians too.
I start to think that ""Это была злая старуха" is translated to english as "There was angry woman, which we are talking about". :)))

I tried to translate "Это была злая старуха" in such manner, but failed. :)
"It was angry old woman" sounds bad for me. Also google cannot find "it was good man" in this manner.

P.S.

Also, we can see this in other examples:
"Это была злая старуха"
vs
"Эта старуха была злая" - "This old woman was angy".

It is the same thing. "Это" and "эта" are related to different...

Wrong. "Чей это чай?" is ok.

Also, you can ask same questions as in english:
"Чьи эти кошки?"
"Чей этот чай?"
These are ok too.