[ludwigschubert]

I imagine your friend is genuine. During undergrad/before 2014 I attended a summer school (https://www.jass.school) in St. Peterburg. I found the city to be welcoming, almost European in ambiance, with friendly university students. It never felt too foreign or unsafe. In my experience, St. Peterburg is as distinct from how I imagine Moscow as San Francisco is from Dallas, Texas.

(edit: I have no idea how it’d feel nowadays, and won’t visit Russia atm either.)

[throwaway2037]

    > almost European in ambiance

It should. SPB is in the European part of Russia.

[dragonwriter]

So is Moscow. So is the vast majority of the population of Russia.

[imp0cat]

I'd skip Russia and Ukraine right now for obvious reasons. But I have a friend who managed to visit St. Peterburg before the current war and was quite impressed.