I agree with Bluedylan's mate. I've been to Russia a few times for swimming.
They love visitors, provided you behave yourself.
They're always ready to help if you're in the street trying to read a map for instance. You'd have no end of people trying to help.
When dealing with authority, e.g at passport control at the airport, just have a smile on your face and don't get pissed off if something seems to take ages.