What is your opinion about russian and belorus students in CR?

38 comments

1. Hi. As a czech (also student) i have some opinions about russian goverment and russians acording to common history of our countries. I feel some kind of fear among my grandparents and their friends. But that doesn’t mean all russians are bad people. I understand that some russians are scared to say something against their goverment but this is exactly the thing we condemn in the Czech Republic. We stood up to the occupiers (not only from Russia, but also from the history of our country, which were often under the rule of other states) and therefore the Czech Republic is very active in helping Ukraine. Only the will of the Russian people to stand up against their own government will change their views.

2. A lot of people in Czechia don’t like / hate Russia. This means that there will be people that won’t like you at first sight just because you are Russian. But I think most of them will change their view on you after they get to know you – if you’re a good person.

   This is similar to the roma minority in Czechia. A lot of people don’t like them at first sight, but most of them have at least one roma friend they like, because he/she is such a good person.

3. It’s always at least a little hard to be a foreigner anywhere. People will like you or not for a number of dumb reasons. Just get out there and be yourself, and be good, dont lie, steal, or cheat. CR is a really bigoted place in general in my experience, but people are generally pretty nice there.

   Or stay home and build a resistance. Russia has had too much brain drain. Its ruining the country.

4. Hello there,
   I am student at a university, and I have some russian classmates in english lessons. Typically, at the University, full of educated people, you will not meet any haters. But i am afraid it can be different when going elsewhere. I can recommend you to just sign up to an uiversity ( my tip for practical IT stuff is VŠB-TUO FEI in Ostrava), move your ass here, and find a friend who will help you from the start. In the school there are a lot of programs for internships, and in Ostrava there are a lot of English speaking companies (including mine) hiring students too, so do not be afraid of not getting money while staying here.
   Few colleagues of mine ran from Russia few years ago, and they say it’s the best thing they did. I see you are not dumb, by having the idea to flee, and using another account and VPN. I wish you a good luck, and no problems on your way. Just RUN.

5. For what it’s worth, iDnes is not really pro-russian and the commenters are definitely not.

6. No, I don’t like them and they shouldn’t study here. And definitely not for free just because they pretend to learn Czech.

   We invest into fifth column, it is fucking ridiculous.

7. The real opinion of most people would be – as long as you dont talk about politics and you dont act like an asshole, youre just like anyone else.

   People here generaly hate russians and wannabe russians (Belorus), because they usually go full support of all the bad shit. But that would be a blanket statement. Most people in my social bubble dont give a shit about ethnicity or anything like that – we meme on everyone equally.

   The best thing to please the “common folk” is to try to learn czech and even if you dont, try speaking and look like youre making an effort. And you need to learn to complain about everything at any given time, so people think youre one of “us”.

   Atleast thats from my point of view

8. There will always be people who don’t welcome foreigners (ironically a lot of them might support Russia). And also people who hate Russians – because of our history, their personal experience or current events.

   But reasonable people, even if they’re cautious because of their “prejudice”, will look beyond the stereotypes and judge you based on your personality, values, worldviews. Or in a less personal setting, based on your contributions to society/economy.

   If you openly disagree with the war and don’t glorify the very country you chose to leave behind, you’re already doing better than a lot of the immigrants in Europe.

9. >iDnes (Which as I’ve heard is prorussian website)

   Idnes comment sections are often full of anti-Russian and anti-EU people. In some people’s mind (leftists, progressive liberals) anti-EU means pro-Russia which is BS.

10. In academic environment, you will not have much issues. People usually understand that students here do not support the war. As long as you do not anything stupid (such as openly supporting the Russian regime or spreading it’s propaganda), you should be okay.

    Outside in public, you might find some a-holes but you should not encounter more than stupid comments or verbal insults.

    What you might have problems with, is getting a study visa. If I remember correctly, the Czech government stopped issuing visa to Russian citizens so you might find it hard to get here legally. Especially if the war keeps going on.

11. I have a dude from Belarus sitting next to me and a chick from Russia behind me at work. We’re cool. Haven’t spoken about the war once.

12. Firstly first: Idnes is actually heavy anti-russian oriented. Mild death threat for Ruski nation is usual in comments.

    I personally, as heavy nihilist, don’t give a fck about moral standpoitns of this conflict. Geopolitics are always dirty and civilian casualties are only statistical metrics.

    I don’t give a fck where people are from as long as they are cool

13. Same, I’m from Moscow and I’m about to be accepted to Univerzita Karlova, but no idea what to expect. Not very afraid of possible russophobia, it still beats living in today’s Russia in any aspect. What actually concerns me is the situation with visas – feels like it’s not coming back anytime soon, so I simply won’t have enough time

14. I can’t immediately tell if people are from Russia, Ukraine or Kazachstan. I think most Czech people can’t.
    Maybe don’t press the issue where exactly you are from and discuss it only with your friends?
    With situations where to have to present your ID, like a job or housing for example, it will be more difficult for sure.

15. Due to common history (1968 SSSR occupation, which I heard is taught in russian schools as liberation of Czech r.) I dont like Russia nor brainwashed Russians all tho I will not have problem with anyone as long as they dont openly support theit agresive politics.

    Russian goverment put Czech Republic on list of enemies early 2021 and after ammunition warehouse explosion in CR where Russia was investigated the ambasy more or less permanently closed so I dont think its possible for you to get visa.

16. Unpopular opinion here

    Honestly at this time, I am against issuing visas to more Russians and them setting up their lives here. Mainly because one day Mother Russia will try to “rescue” their citizens from “czech nazis”.

17. GTFO, we’re the rotted west. Go find your happiness in great Mother Russia.

18. If you don’t plan on coming back, why insist on branding yourself as a Russian?

19. Don’t like them, it’s completely absurd that we are educating the youth of a state that considers us an enemy

20. Virtually all my friends and most people I know and work with hate Russians so.. yeah… go study in Russia. What do you expect your shit country came in 1968, corrupted our politics and absorbed us into your shit. Now the whole world sees how evil your country is.

    You will probably get beat up here at the least.

21. Unpopular opinion, but i think you will find hard times during these days in CZ as most people here really hate all russians , not just your shitty government but also your people as whole, included myself because i have some 6 years + experiences working with russians and to be honest , you guys are really rude mostly all the time thinking you guys are something better than rest of us CZ cititens, mostly russians here dont respect simple rules as speak as much czech language as possible or at least some kind of basic english, but nope, most russians dont follow these simple rules,. I really dont think you should come over here and for your best just stay at your homeland and try to change the situations there instead of fleeing to other country. Cheers

22. I believe you got the gist from the rest of the comments, just one thing – check out if you can even get the visa. I don’t know about Russia, but I know that from Belarus it’s nearly impossible in the moment so you might be in a similar situation.

    There are workarounds through Poland, Hungary etc., but they might backfire in the future.

23. Bs, biggest security risk are extremist czechs here. If you can and want to study here, go for it. Hope everything works out for you

24. The problem is that significant number of russians hate west and praise Putin despite enjoying western life. If there was some kind of guarantee that only reasonable russians can come, it would be acceptable to let them in, but that is simply impossible. Add to that how Russia’s most common casus belli for their invasions is “we must protect our people living in this foreign country”, I think only fool would want any russians on their territory. So sorry, but I hope not a single russian except for those who openly oppose Putins regime and risk their lifes will be let in.

25. Do not come. You are not welcome. We are at war with Russia even not officially, but it is defacto war. There will be new iron curtain and relationships between eastern EU countries and Russia will be frozen to bare minimum for decades to come. Do not come. Change your country from inside.

26. I study in Prague, live elsewhere and commute. In general, it depends a lot. You’ll always meet assholes, but I think you should be fine at university.

    I’m cautious around Russians, mostly because of weird experiences – I’ve had jobs where they came in, waving a credit card and expecting to be treated like royalty. They demanded a movie in Russian in a regular cinema, not even in the center of Prague. It was not a Russian movie. Some Russians are loud and take up half the tram as a group of 3–5 people – like they’re even trying to occupy a damn streetcar. :DD

    But those are individuals, not the entire nation.

    If you don’t act like the horribly loud and entitled assholes most people notice, you’ll be fine. Trying to learn the language would definitely help.

27. I don’t think it’s the day to day situations you should be afraid of. While I feel like there’s been a lot of hatred towards Russians recently, I think it’s used more as an umbrella term for the government and its supporters. So in terms of safety/comfort, I don’t think it’s a massive issue, especially in academic circles and when you speak Czech/English (and tbh, I’m not sure how many czechs can safely distinguish Russian from Ukrainian, and there are plenty of Ukrainians here now, obviously).

    The biggest concern for you should be the potential administrative issues, like cancelling your visa mid studying, language requirements if you decide to study in Czech (some Russians somehow make it without having a good communicative Czech, presumably because teachers take it easier on them) and potentially ot being able to find a job in IT due to the safety risk, as you’ve mentioned. Unfortunately no one can predict how the situation develops.

28. Unfortunately, with movement of people always come security risks.

    Chinese students are suspected of spying for China. Several Islamic extremists including murderers were identified among the migrants from the Middle East. A Tunisian (?) guy who took a boat to Italy later cut off the head of that poor French teacher.

    It is the job of our security services to detect them and it is job of our politicians not to overwhelm their capabilities by letting in a flood of unknown people.

    Russian students can probably be screened in advance. It is harder to do this with illiterate Afghans whose identity is unclear to begin with.

29. Im afraid you are bit late at this moment. RU students here from before has been generally accepted here before when not behaving obnoxiously and stupid A. I’ve been living in dormitory with RU students few years ago. First there were just a couple of students and have been generally accepted nicely, but after some time the number rose and the new people that came were quite wild bunch. The management of the facily wasn’t particulary happy because
    of what dum shit they’ve been able to do drunk or sober a and this stemmed some prejudice there. And were considered way more problematic than any other nations there. Some got immediately banned from WiFi because of rampart use of Torrrents, some had their stay terminated because of clogging WC by flushing hay into it etc., but some were still OK and respected by the management. It was highly dependant on who is who. But you have to earn your good reputation. Defaut reputation of RU students on that dormitory wasn’t particulary great.

    But now after the war broke out and when news brought the scale of suffering in UA many thing got worse. Basically the reputation of russians tanked and basically goes down every week of war. New visas are down, I’m not sure if there are any plans of issuing anytime soon. Diplomatic envoys are basically cut down and any RU-CZ cooperation is nonexistant and CZ diplomacy argue for CZ citizen to leave RU. So i would say as right now there wont be no visa activity in next at least half year. If situation escalates in UA even more, of some other mass killing of civilian occure there (so this is very likely), there will be even more pressure for gov to not renew issuing of the new visas to RU citizens.

    Not sure generally, but right now you wont be wellcome here by many, you will have to earn you reputation and trust as a newcommer. Many russians here are condemning the RU actions and are well accepted here. If i could bet i would say the situation will just go worse this year and you will meet more distrust and cases of open hate as war will progress.

    Ironically the russian backed groups here are the morst openly anti-immigration (even from UA).

    Sadly the situation don’t looks good right now and the future dont look any better. I don’t want to sound too grim so I hope I’m wrong.

    I wish you luck kid.

30. The thing is most Russians here study for free. Perhaps you know that Russia a year ago placed two countries, US and Czechia, on their list of most evil enemies. A year ago it came out that “peaceful Russian immigrants” arranged a blast which killed Czechs and damaged a lot of property. Many, even younger Russians, behave in a condescending manner to us, as if we’re still your colony and expect us to cheeringly welcome them. During this exam season, a group of Russian IT students arranged coordinated cheating. As an openly LGBT student myself, I noticed some condemnation from them and fear a bit being in their circles. I’m sorry if that sounds harsh and I know you have nothing to do with it. But in the current climate, I don’t see a reason why should our government offer economic and academic opportunities to the citizens of a state, that hates us. Rather these seats should be available for Ukrainians, who get bombarded and treated inhumanely by your forces. However, if you’re in danger, humanitarian visas are still available. Just please be nice and understanding of our situation.

31. I’d appreciate if you stay and start dealing with your problems. You’re only helping your führer when his opposition runs away on their own.
    No-one else but Russians can and should change the Ruzi government.

32. I don’t think most people care as long as you avoid politics (this goes for literally anyone) and are able to communicate on somewhat intelectual level. Use english words if you don’t know but try not to go full EN. Many people are still unable to communicate in EN and might feel ostracised.

    If anybody happens to pick at you there is a very good chance nobody else around gives a damn.

    I do have some Belarus, Ukrainian and Russian students in my class. The only issue they ever get into is that their class presence is low.

    ​

    As for the links you have provided.

    Security risk one: Gazdik has said a lot of stuff. He is a decently important person in a quite powerful party. But:

    1. that party is mostly made up of independents
    2. they got better stuff to do
    3. now that he has said it people that dislike russia are happy and people that don’t care will keep on not caring because there will be no followup to his words.

    3 weeks ago he has also said this: [Russian is just a language. We don’t prohibit it.](https://www.denik.cz/z_domova/rustina-rozhovor-gazdik-ukrajina.html)

    As for comments on iDnes. Comments on any news website are 90% retarded. People don’t wanna put in their time and often misexpress themselves and there is MASSIVE echo chamber that has it’s tone dictated by the tone of article it belongs to.

    TLDR

    it’s fine. I hate Spanish way more.

33. Why do people need an opinion about them?

34. There is a great amount of people that pretty much hate russians. We have our history with Russia in the soviet era, and the recent Vrbětice ammunition storage explosions that we were told Russia stands behind. We also closely observed the Krym occupation and now a full scale war with Ukraine. A lot of Ukranians live in Czechia so we support them. We feel with them because our nation had once fell by the same kind of attack.

    But as many wrote here, in academic sphere we dont really care where is anyone from, we only care for you to obey our laws and respect us. You might get in some rather uncomfortable situations but i think you should be fine to study here.

    As for my opinion: I study Russian language, admire Russian nature and resiliance of its people. I get that you cant really speak up, but unless the mighty russians take down their chaotic and misbehaved leader, theres no pitty with Russian nation. I dont mind you to study here, i dont mind you calling yourself Russian in Czechia, but if you were to support the war, came here to spread words of Putin, then we would be enemies.

35. People are on the edge when it comes to Russians, especially these days.

    But as long as you clarify that you, as a Russian, hate Putin and you say ‘Slava Ukraini!’, you’ll be fine.
    There are good Russians after all.

36. Depends what kind of Russian you are. I do not like Russians who live in the West but have superRussia in their head and continue to consume Russian propaganda.

    We hate Putin and what is Russia doing in Ukraine and all brainwashed minions who are supporting it.

37. Fuck them all

    Just kidding

38. Nice try putin