Eastern Europe
Video Chat with People from Russia
Russia spans eleven time zones, so 'evening' depends on who you meet. The western part of the country, including Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Kazan, runs on Moscow time (UTC+3); Yekaterinburg is two hours ahead, and Vladivostok on the Pacific is seven. A 9 PM chat in Moscow falls in the early evening across much of Europe and early afternoon in New York.
Russian is the shared language everywhere, and you'll also meet people who speak Tatar, Bashkir or another regional language at home. English is more common in big cities and among people who travel or work internationally, but don't count on it. Good topics: winter walks and ski trips, dacha weekends in the countryside, the banya, pelmeni and blini, hockey, figure skating and chess, Russian rock and classical music, or a ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway to Lake Baikal. Our Russian phrase guide explains the alphabet and the polite 'you'.
Russia at a glance
| Flag | 🇷🇺 |
|---|---|
| Official name | Russian Federation |
| Capital | Moscow |
| Region | Europe · Eastern Europe |
| Official language | Russian |
| Currency | Russian ruble (₽, RUB) |
| Calling code | +7 |
| Time zones | Moscow Standard Time (Europe/Moscow); Yekaterinburg Standard Time (Asia/Yekaterinburg); Vladivostok Standard Time (Asia/Vladivostok) |
How to say hello
A few words of Russian make a great first impression, even if you switch to English right after.
| Language | Phrase | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russian | Привет! | privet (pree-VYET) | Hi! (casual) |
| Russian | Здравствуйте! | zdravstvuyte (ZDRAST-vooy-tyeh) | Hello! (polite) |
| Russian | Как дела? | kak dela (kahk dee-LAH) | How are things? |
| Russian | Добрый вечер! | dobryy vecher (DOH-bree VYEH-cher) | Good evening! |
Tips for chatting with people from Russia
- Russian has a casual 'ты' (ty) and a polite 'вы' (vy). With someone new, start with vy and switch when they do.
- Many names have friendly short forms: Aleksandr is often Sasha, Ekaterina is Katya and Dmitry is Dima. Ask which one they prefer.
- Learning the Cyrillic alphabet is quicker than it looks, and it makes names and words in the text chat far less mysterious.
- Check the city before talking about time: 9 PM in Moscow is already 4 AM the next day in Vladivostok.
Only meet people from Russia
Omlet matches you Worldwide by default. To meet only people from Russia, use the country filter, the only filter Omlet has:
- Open Omlet and press Country on the control panel.
- Search for Russia and select it.
- Press Start. Press Next to meet someone else from Russia, or switch back to Worldwide any time.
Your first day is free: you add a card through Stripe to start it, and nothing is charged that day. When the 24 hours end, the country filter costs $3 one time, charged to that card, unless you cancel before then in Settings (if you cancel, you can still pick a country until the day ends). It's not a subscription, and it stays unlocked on that device and browser. It doesn't carry over to other devices or browsers, and clearing your browser data removes it. There's one free day per device, home network and card. Payment goes through Stripe, so Omlet never sees your card number.
The filter works both ways, and matching can be slower when fewer people from Russia are online. Chatting itself is free, and Worldwide matching never costs anything.
Your own country is detected automatically and shown to the people you meet as a flag.
Neighboring countries
Russia borders 14 countries. Curious about the people next door? Meet them too: