From My USA-Russia Notebook: RTD explores what ordinary Americans really think of Russia

From My USA-Russia Notebook explores what regular Americans – not NATO-funded think tank fellows – think of Russia. RTD spoke with everyday people in the US about how love, music, science or food have helped to create a common kinship with Russia, even as tensions between the two powers continue to grab headlines.

Derrick Wilson, an African-American boxing coach from New Orleans who spent 17 years in prison, said that his friendship with painter Anya Tarashuk – a Russian native from Krasnodar who emigrated to the US – has dramatically changed his life for the better. He told RTD that Anya had helped him overcome some of his darkest moments, and now his life is on track. According to Wilson, it’s impossible to reconcile the media’s negative portrayal of Russia and its people with his own interactions with Anya.

“It’s the proof in the pudding that shows me that what [the media] is saying is a lie …If you were to say, ‘What is your view of Russians?’ I would say: Anya. She’s a representative of the heart of Russia. She looks fragile but she’s real strong.”
Leapfrogging across the country, RTD arrived in Washington DC, where love for traditional Russian folk music has inspired a group of Americans to create one of the largest Balalaika orchestras outside of the former Soviet Union.

“I think there are plenty of problems in the world today, and governments not getting along with each other. But if you put a group of people together who may come from those countries, if they have something else that unites them, they don’t worry about the fact that governments can’t get along,” Janet Bohm, the president of the Washington Balalaika Society, noted. “And music is one of those things that can bring unity.”

Ultimately, the documentary uncovers that ordinary Americans and Russians have far more in common than their governments want them to believe.