What is your perception of Russia?

I can only speak from Russian individuals point. I've worked with 2 Russian people in my career and I think their citizens are in general not much different than us. Live our lives as best we can. Get up have breakfast and go to work. Enjoy and take care of our families. I learned like us they were sick of and didn't want to discuss their government. I think at an individual level there isn't much difference between us as citizens. But that's only my experience with 2. I don't know much about the country overall except that some parts are just too damn cold lol