lostwords

I understand this logic, but in this particular case I don't think it's a good move. I can't see any really good effects here. People in Russia won't notice this change (I don't believe they're able to do with their government something right now, but even this argument is irrelevant, they wouldn't be triggered at all). For all the Russian business it's rather a gift, because if Russian isn't able to pay for something outside, he will pay to someone inside for the similar service. And all these Russian companies will pay taxes after that. There also will be new companies to collect money and roubles from clients so these clients could pay for some services outside of Russia via proxy et cetera.

I'm not against inconveniences per se. But this just doesn't really make sense. It's an inconvenience for a small minority of Russians outside the country and foreigners inside. But I don't understand what the main objective that was achieved here (except the beautiful press release).

I'd understand if they blocked all Russian cards, but it's technically impossible, and this measure looks like a PR move without any real meaning behind it.

It's somewhat true, but there are still options, actually. Russian carriers canceled their flights, but some foreign carriers are still flying. It's quite expensive now, of course, and not very convenient, but if you desperately want to leave and you have some money, it's doable.

It's the first action against Russia that made me angry. It's so stupid and wrong at the same time.

So, in Russia all the cards will work, nothing is changed here (despite the statements of Visa and Mastercard). Cards issued by Russian banks would stop work abroad. The same is true for any foreign cards in Russia. So, foreigners in Russia are fucked. People who left Russia in a hurry because they didn't want to be part of this craziness or because it's dangerous for them to stay (i.e. they are known protesters against the regime) are fucked.

Nice move. Simply genius.

It's quite accurate in terms of approach, but there are a lot of situations where smiling is more or less appropriate and wouldn't be considered as a rude move. For example, it's completely okay (almost) for service people to be smiling and approachable although it's not obligatory in any way (especially at small stores). At the same time if you are just smiling at strangers without saying any word, it could be perceived as a rudeness. If you smile and give a light nod, most people will think that you somehow know them. So, it's not that Russians are all grumpy and angry all the time, but they (we) need to have an explanation for your smile, you just can't smile without a reason, if that makes sense.

Yes, they're quite different and similar at the same time. More than that, Russians are not all the same (Southern Russians are more like Ukranians, Siberian Russians are not very similar to Moscow Russians and so on). With Ukranians, you have at least two different cultures — east (relatively similar to Russians) and west (these guys were more influenced by Poland etc.). So, yeah, Russians and Ukranians are quite similar (they are two Slavic nations with common background), but there are a lot of differences too.

I don't think it's a Russian thing (I'm Russian).