The Russian controllers do neither manage to produce proper sentences in plain English nor do they behave professionally. An ATCO is supposed to support a pilot by leaving him in peace...(check ATCOs in Manchester after the Thomas Cook engine failure) and not to ask several times "statistical" questions thus distracting the pilot from handling the situation!
I agree that the Swiss pilot's behavior on ground is not ideal, but I guess that's the way they're trained (limit the damage by shutting down the damaged engine(s), delegate as much as one can to ground support, make sure everybody is in the loop).
In flight though, they handled the critical situation in a very professional way. High vibrations don't necessarily mean engine fire or failure, they are rather to be considered as a caution and a prompt for a quick return to the field. Thus flying a normal traffic pattern under radar seems quite reasonable to me. Don't forget: ECAM, gear trouble, engine vibrations, low visibility weather conditions and last but not least an overweight situation all need assessment and consideration before landing. It is after all important to be completely aware of the status of one's aircraft before touching down overweight (reversers available? which breaking system available? braking with anti-skid or without? Is there a possibility of a tire burst if the brake pedals are pushed too hard...etc.)
I heard from a friend of mine that Russian support continued even after the incident: the immigration officers didn't allow the crew to enter Russia and spend the night in St.Petersburg because they could neither produce a valid visa nor a Gen.Dec. (the flight is always operated as a turn-around flight). After this emergency, the crew had to run to catch a Lufthansa flight to return to Zürich via Frankfurt!
