I would second the comments from BelargUSA with regard to learning the cyrillic alphabet, if you don't then even doing something as simple as reading a street sign is not possible. He's also spot on about Baltika, it's an excellent beer.
As regards the comments by JClasspax....
Russians are not racists generally speaking, you guys will be fine in that regard
Russia has huge problems with racism, violent racist attacks have been increasing over the last few years. Russian nationlism has been on the rise for a while. Most of these attacks are directed against black africans and people from the caucasus. As with most violent crime your chances of being a victim are extremely low but caution should be exercised - just like in any big city.