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Russia is home to great art, architecture, literature, and poetry. It is also home to the loveliest and most kindhearted human beings.
If you are dating a Russian local or planning on dating one, you need the best dating tips to win their hearts. Lucky for you, we detailed below the top dos and don’ts in the Russian dating scene.
A Quick Overview of the Russian Culture
Russia is a mysterious country. To enrich your understanding of Russian culture, let’s take a quick jump into the country’s history and traditional practices. Here are the four Russian facts for your easy reading:
1. Russians can easily adapt
Russia is an impeccably lovely country with a sad history.
Locals in Russia understand resilience like the back of their hands. Their past experiences from previous governments taught them to adapt to new rules and laws quickly.
Unpredictability is nothing new to the Russians, as was experienced from the Soviet time’s total control to today’s absolute uncertainty. They always had to adjust, and they must do it quickly.
2. Russians are straightforward
Russians are known for being straightforward. Smiling to a stranger in public is inappropriate for them. They seldom greet anyone with pleasantries and go straight to the point.
To most, this attitude of Russians may be deemed rude, but it’s the easiest way to avoid errors and confusion for them. It is even traceable to the Soviet period when greeting strangers politely was viewed as a bourgeois survival tactic.
3. Russians are predominantly Christian
Russia used to be an atheist country. The Soviet regime that ran from 1917 to 1991 lobbied for an atheist Russia. Whereby those seeking social success had to profess atheism and avoid any place of worship.
However, the end of the Soviet regime freed Russia from atheism. Eventually, Russia became a Christian country, with most of the population belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church.
4. Russians are educated and cultured
Russia is a beautiful country wrapped in rich history. Russian locals are well-educated, highly cultured individuals because of the country’s widely available educational and cultural facilities. As such, they know something about everything.
Russian’s general knowledge about history, culture, and literature is relatively rich because their history classes include Russian, European, and American History. Their literature books also include European classics from authors like Tolstoy, Pushkin, and Dostoyevski.
The Dos and Don’ts When Dating a Russian
It isn’t enough to date a Russian local and try to know them along the way. That would’ve been a complete disaster!
Keeping your Russian date with you requires the ultimate tips and tricks. Below are the dos and don’ts we gathered for you.
Dos in Russian Dating
1. Respect their family
Family is every Russian local’s priority. They hold great importance to every family member’s presence — be it an immediate or extended family. They even treat close friends as part of the clan.
Anyone can easily trace Russia’s high value for family and close relations to the country’s economic depression during the Soviet regime. Local families then needed to share each other’s resources to survive economically.
Russians have carried this quality up until this day. As such, respect your date’s family regardless of their hostility to you. If you can, try to win them over with your charm, kindness, and wit.
2. Bring a gift
Gift-giving is a national tradition in Russia of some sort. In every Russian family event or small gathering, presents are essential. They’d even prepare a gift for new acquaintances.
With that, bring a present for your date. Be sure to get your Russian date something cute, but not anything too intimate. Your gift doesn’t even have to be expensive; it just has to be meaningful.
3. Act accordingly
Despite the rest of the world’s casual approach in the contemporary dating scene, Russians remain traditional.
Women still look for protection and security from men, while men prefer their date to be feminine and inferior to them.
Hence, the Russian dating scene is somewhat the same as how they did it several centuries ago. To impress a Russian woman, be the perfect gentleman. On the other hand, for a Russian man to fall in love with you, you must be submissive to him.
4. Be genuine
When still in the dating part of a relationship, people tend to act way too different from who we are.
While it’s essential to put your best foot forward at the onset of a relationship, sincerity is still an integral component for it to last. With that, be sure to be genuine with all your emotions and actions. Never try to pretend, as it may ruin your blossoming relationship.
5. Have an open mind
Being in an interethnic romance means getting used to cultures and traditions that aren’t similar or agree to yours. It may also compromise your beliefs.
Having an open mind and respecting your Russian date’s viewpoints is a surefire way to make the relationship last. If you wish to connect with your partner on a deeper level, widen your understanding of things that seemed ridiculous to you before.
Don’ts
1. Don’t be clingy
Russians are innately serious people. They don’t enjoy small talk or fluffy conversations. If you want to form a connection with your Russian date, open a discussion about environmental issues.
2. Steer clear from political topics
Unless you’ve met through a political function, keep away from conversations regarding politics. Remember that everyone — regardless of nationality — has different political viewpoints. Nonetheless, don’t ruin a perfectly great date by expressing your strong views on politics.
3. Don’t be cheap
Russians are known for their generosity. They give whenever they can with an open heart, and they expect you to do the same.
As such, avoid being stingy, even when the relationship is already steady. Make your date fall for you even more by showing your generous side.
4. Don’t mock their spiritual beliefs
Common fights on an interethnic romance are sometimes about clashing cultural viewpoints. If you wish for your cross-border relationship to last, respect their spiritual beliefs.
Never try to be condescending or mock their spiritual leanings in any way. You don’t necessarily have to have the same religious beliefs, and that is entirely okay.
5. Avoid generalizing all Russians
Generalizing your Russian date to any other Russian you know or have seen on TV is a recipe for disaster.
No one appreciates stereotypical comments about them, mainly because generalizations seem to lean on racism. Treat your date with a pinch of salt, and don’t judge them before they get to show you who they are.
Be yourself and have fun!
Online dating in Russia is a fun and exciting affair. It helps us view the world in all its brilliance and appreciate what we do have momentarily.
We hope you learned enough to nail your interethnic relationship. Be yourself and make sure to have fun!
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