I am a British citizen living in Russia and have done so for about 25 years .Mainly, I have lived in St Petersburg but have travelled all over Russia/ . I have also travelled all over the world.
I have never, ever been afraid for my safety in Russia whilst on the streets or anywhere else, come to that. I got scammed once that was because I was a bit naive at the time. It was the “dropped wallet” scam. Some chap dropped his wallet when he was walking in front of me and I picked it up, caught up with him and gave it back to him. He was with his mates and he opened his wallet and told me that $200 was missing. The end of the the story was and I had to fork out $200 of my own money or get a good hiding
Any to get back to the main theme, all you have to remember, if you’re a tourist in Russia and in a big city is to behave sensibly. St Petersburg and Moscow are no more dangerous than any other large city in the world and a lot safer than many but if you go flashing your wallet around with a huge wad of notes in it , getting drunk in bars and flashing your money around, getting drunk, so you can hardly stand and walking around in badly lit tough, rundown areas and that sort of thing, you’re going to get into trouble, just as you would anywhere else in the world. If you draw money out of an ATM make sure you do it in the day time and where there are plenty of people around and not t at night in some deserted area. Be alert! Follow the basic rules of self-preservation and you will be okay - like me
Story Credit: Tony Car (Quora)
