I did not know about Russian people that much, but I went through Moscow airport a few times and had to have a stopover one time. In Moscow airport, I found, Russians do not know how to make a line in front of a counter, they were cutting in front of other people, just like underdeveloped countries, when someone objected, they act surprised. That was one surprise for me. People who still cannot make a single line, there is something wrong with their culture and level of development. In the US, if one person bypasses a line, everyone gets mad as hell, as there is something called fairness and everyone politely asks (at least native born white Americans) if someone was before them, if they are not sure.
The other thing that surprised me was the quality of the Tupolev passanger planes. They seem needlessly heavy and of shoddy quality.
And in some former Soviet Republics, Lada cars are legendary for their quality. They can break down at any time.
What does this have to do with Syria, nothing, I am just sharing my direct experience about Russians.
But one thing I should say, they are simple people with good heart, and they are not greedy like people in the West and they seem sincere and hardworking.
Its just that may be because of the communist system, they were not able to develop themselves to the extent of Western European societies and it still shows in their products, conducts, behaviors as well as international relations.
The other problem with Russia is that like all smaller former Soviet Republics, Russian govt., policy and media is controlled by a small group of mafia like ex-KGB, some remain in govt. and others are big business people. So common Russians do not have a say in what is going on with their foreign policy I think. And some like zzzz above probably believe their media RT and its narrative which serves the interest of the Russian mafia elite.
