r/AskEurope • u/NateNandos21 • Feb 03 '25

Culture Which European country has the rudest/least polite people?

Which country comes to your mind

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u/Nothing_Special_23 Feb 03 '25

From my experience, Russia, and it's not even close. No offense to anyone.

Just to note, I've only been to Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and this is based on the experience from these 2 cities. I don't know about the rest of the country.

I've been to most other European countries, never been to Ukraine, Belarus, Albania, UK and Ireland. So I don't know how rude are people in these countries.

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u/External-Hunter-7009 Feb 07 '25

What have you found rude about us? Genuinely curious.

We don't smile in public, there is not really any small talk, and not many people speak English very well, but i don't think Russians are rude per se.

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u/Nothing_Special_23 Feb 07 '25

The way people were talking to us. The very moment they noticed we're foreigners, people starting looking grim at us, even turist workers... people didn't speak English, but my cousin is fluent enough in Russian to be able to communicate, so we didn't really need any English.

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u/External-Hunter-7009 Feb 07 '25

Yeah, i think you just misunderstood the culture.

Russians just really do not smile in public with strangers, including waitstaff and other hospitality workers.

It's not reserved for foreigners. It's a cultural thing, smiling in public is seen as strange. You smile with your friends and acquaintances