Yekaterinburg - Post Report Question and Answers
Is it easy to make friends with locals here? Are there any prejudices or any ethnic groups who might feel uncomfortable here?
Yes and no. Our feeling is the people in Yekaterinburg generally tend to be friendlier than in Moscow, but Russian culture can generally be a bit shy. This not true of everyone, of course, and we have made a few local friends, mostly through playgroups and ballet classes that our daughter attends. Yekaterinburg is a mix of Russians and Central Asians. There is a very small community of African university students. Otherwise, there is not much diversity in the city at all. Our daughter is Black, and people stare at us when we are out in public, and often ask to take photos of our daughter, which is unpleasant for us. Generally, people are very complimentary toward her, and seem only to be curious, but sometimes, the staring is bothersome. Yekaterinburg was a closed city for many years, and there is not a lot of diversity; therefore, anything that is out of the ordinary tends to attract staring. - Feb 2020
