I dated on Russian woman, very smart. She was a college professor. Met her when she was at Tulane, now she is at Brown.
She wasn't that much different from other women I've dated except for one characteristic. I don't think it is fair to paint ALL with the same brush, but she did have a number of Russian female friends who would roll in and out periodically and got a sense they were that same. Based on my limited experience... here is my advice....
Russian women deplore weakness in the men they date. No women really like weakness, but my Russian girl absolutely hated any weakness in any man... especially the one they date. You are not going to get any sympathy for any struggle AT ALL. They don't want to hear any b1tching. They expect you to bull through any problem you might be having without complaint. If you are going to date a Russian woman you better put on your big boy pants. She had a very sarcastic sense of humor, and really despised when she saw someone get ahead or promoted, or got tenure if she didn't think they were worthy. But she did seem, IMO to be very fair in her assessment of people.
She didn't have any sympathy for anyone that found themselves in a situation because of their own stupidity. But if they were a victim of pure circumstance, she was very helpful and understanding. Example: She had a friend who was dating an idiot, who ended up getting into some serious legal problems that drug her friend down to the point where she was alone and homeless.... her attitude was 'fvck her' that is what she gets for being with an idiot. Another friend had her husband killed in a traffic accident... she bent over backwards to help her. In a nutshell, her empathy was directly tied to decisions and circumstances.
She was very up front with what she wanted, and she was open to giving me whatever I needed, but if you get too needy, you are fvcking done. There wasn't a whole lot of game playing... and if you play games... you are fvcking done. We dated for a year, and she said that was the longest she'd ever dated an American man. But when she took the job going to Rhode Island... that was it... we were done... clean break.