system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
I've always been amazed at the lack of represntation we in the West see from Russia's population.  Russia's borders extend all the way from Finland to North Korea, and so the population has a lot of diversity.  But what we see in the West is largely a homogenous group of people that could pass as Germans, Poles, etc.

So what you're saying makes a lot of sense... Is there much representation / communication among these different subcultures within Russia?  Or are they pretty isolated socially / culturally from the regions of Moscow and St Petersburg?
gpt
Well, to be honest, majority of Russian population is ethnic Russians, who mostly indeed look European. So, the largest differences are not even cultural per se, it's rather "big cities vs small towns/rural areas". The life in Moscow (or even Novosibirsk or Kazan) and in a village 1000 km from any major city can be drastically different. However, there is regional cultural specific in so called "national republics". Siberia, Far East, and Far North are also slightly distinct, just for being, well, far from Moscow and Petersburg.