Originally Posted by
Tankertrashnav
When I was learning Russian I spent some time in Russia. Where I lived foreigners were rare and friendly Russians used to approach you in the street just to chat (or maybe scrounge a Marlborough!). One day I met a chap who had been in the Soviet Air Force. He told me he had spent several years on a base up North servicing Bears. When I told him I had been on tankers and involved with intercepting said Bears many times he was greatly amused, and we parted with a friendly handshake.
I was greatly impressed how friendly your average Russian is, and it made all that Cold War nonsense seem such a waste of time and effort. Now it is all coming back, it seems
On several occasions, I flew the 'UK Open Skies' Andover in and out of Kubinka, Levashevo and Olenyagorsk. Everyone we met, including the military folk, were extremely pleasant. Especially so in Olenyagorsk, where the older folk toasted the British for breaking the blockade of Murmansk during WW II. It's the politicians to be wary of... not the indigenous population.