[crux]

I think there's a (mostly) non-sequitur there. Russian cursive handwriting bears only a very faint resemblance to Latin cursive. Russian cursive is (famously) hard to read and confusing because so many of the letters either look like other cursive letters, or even worse, look like other printed letters. Indeed if you were really totally ignorant of printed Latin cursive you'd probably find RC easier to read, because you wouldn't be seeing bloody Ms everywhere.

[Elepsis]

As a native Russian speaker and someone who reads printed Russian without a problem, I still struggle to read Russian cursive reliably. It's something that takes practice and occasionally even the ability to infer what the word ought to be.

If I had to work with and encounter Russian handwriting on a more regular basis I'm sure I'd be better at it, but as is, with me only needing to try to decipher things once a month, I find myself struggling. If I were just learning the language I would hate to be subjected to that.

[eru]

It wasn't that bad in High School.