Replies

You are right, a lot travel over the border to Ukraine and some have come back in body bags but Putin has been denying any Russians "za granista" in Ukraine....

First, your flippant reply dismisses the point of my post, that Russians are not some kind of isolated people who have no idea what is beyond their borders. I would guess that proportionally, at least as many Russians have international passports as Americans do. The RF constitution gives the absolute right for Russian citizens to go and come as they please. It is very easy to meet people who travel to USA, Europe, Dubai, Asia, etc. as it is quite common.

Second, there are no regular Russian troops in Ukraine, and certainly no draftees. Putin has acknowledged that Russian citizens are active there, but this is likely a way of saying they are mercs (who are obviously volunteers), so I am not sure what is your point.

"First, your flippant reply dismisses the point of my post, that Russians are not some kind of isolated people who have no idea what is beyond their borders."

I understand your point, I was joking but also making a point. Their economic output does not measure up to the state of Texas, their average life expectancy as of 2015 is 8 years less than America, the average monthly income as of January 2016 in Russia was $216 US a month and inflation was somewhere between 12-15%. Also in that month the amount of unpaid wages to Russians reached 58.8 million dollars. This seems to be a normal thing in Russia where companies tell their workers, they don't have enough money to pay them.

Now, you can give us your viewpoint of what you have witnessed but statistics tell us a different story. The fact is that Russia is a petrol economy and without oil and natural gas they would not have much more economic output than poor African countries. Please name me the one product that Russia produces that everyone in America can't do without? That includes gas by the way, because we don't need theirs.

Stats show us that they are a third wolrd country with a first world military, nothing more...