Racism in Russia: Stories of prejudice
What would prompt a student to choose communist Russia over so many democratic countries?
Canada is seeking talents youth to educate and receive landed immigrant status.
Interesting comment about Moscow
"Maybe it's because there aren't many of us and we haven't been here long, so people just aren't used to us. There's a big difference between Bryansk and Moscow. Moscow is like a different country. I never felt discrimination there."
AND YET
'Enemy of the people'
Isabel's mother is from Sakhalin island and her dad from the Dominican Republic. They met in the 1980s, studying in Kyiv, the capital of then-Soviet Ukraine.
Isabel's father came over to the Soviet Union on a student exchange programme. Isabel says that when her parents got married, while still studying, the university's reaction was negative. Her mother was harassed and called an "enemy of the people".
"At university they started giving her bad grades, although she had always been top of the class. The day after giving birth to my brother she had an exam. The university refused to let her postpone it. She wasn't allowed to defend her dissertation properly. She always got top marks, but they wouldn't give her anything higher than a third-class degree.
"These days people who are educated and travel know that the world is full of variety, but most people here don't and they're not interested. Racism shows itself in Russia in attitudes towards people from the former Soviet republics. They are the ones who need to protest, but they are afraid to because a lot of them are here illegally."