Russians on the Netherlands and the Dutch
The Netherlands holds a unique place in the Russian imagination. This is how our country, and we, are viewed through Russian eyes.
Dasha and Tamara
Dutch people are known for being direct, a sentiment often echoed by Tamara Zhirova, who would know, as she lives in Amsterdam. (Where she also teaches Russian. You can find her on YouTube.) An entertaining conversation, mainly thanks to Tamara, who also sings for us.
Who Is More Straightforward, Russians or Dutch?
Amsterdam vs Petersburg. An interview with Tamara
(Russian with Dasha, 2022, 17 m)
Easy Russian
Also check out from this channel Russian in the Netherlands: 6 Things Which Surprised Me (2021, 14 m) and Why Peter the Great Lived in This Dutch House? (2021, 11 m).
What Russians Think About the Netherlands and Dutch People
(2022, 14 m)
Varlamov
Video blogger Ilya Varlamov ( Илья Варламов) has been to the Netherlands many times, and he has a lot of praise for it. He shared his thoughts extensively in several videos.
Check out his reports on Amsterdam:
- Amsterdam: One of the Best Cities in the World | Bicycles, Panel Buildings, and Ice Rinks on Chairs (2024, 41 m)
- Amsterdam: Here, Nobody is Ashamed of Anything! | LGBT, Peter the Great, Bicycles, and Real Estate Prices (2023, 133 m)
- Non-tourist Amsterdam: How to Fall in Love with the Capital of the Netherlands? (2020, 27 m)
- Amsterdam: What a Horrible Thing is Happening in the Netherlands (2020, 28 m)
- Amsterdam: An Insult to Drivers (2018, 16 m)
Hoorn: A Quiet Dutch Idyll (2020, 13 m), Zaandam: Preserving Identity While Staying Modern (2020, 22 m), and Utrecht, in Utrecht: Paid Bike Parking, the Station, and Herring (2018, 15 m) and I’ve Seen Paradise, and It’s in Utrecht (2020, 23 m). The Netherlands is a winner.
The Netherlands: Is This the Best Country in Europe?
Good Economy, Real Estate, and Food
(2024, 85 m)
More Varlamov on the Netherlands:
- The Netherlands: Enthusiasm, But Without Flattery | Awful Taxes, Saving on Heating, and Lots of Happiness (2023, 89 m)
- The Netherlands: A Transportation Paradise on Earth (2019, 24 m)
- Netherlands: Beautiful, Comfortable, Yours (2019, 19 m)
More
A comparison of two cultures in Eastern European (Russian) vs Dutch Culture by The Selfish Codependent’s Life in The Netherlands (2023, 11 m). From the same channel with the long name, there’s also Dutch Directness. Learn to Deal with It (2023, 10 m).
Katja Vertelina was previously seen on Easy Russian, but now she’s on YouTube on her own and living in the Netherlands. She talks about the pros and cons of life here in The Pros of Living in the Netherlands: What Makes Me Happy Here? (2024, 30 m) and The Cons of Living in the Netherlands: Household Difficulties, My Problems with Food (2024, 14 m).
The woman behind The Netherlands discusses Typical Dutch vs Russian People (2023, 7 m) and relationship troubles in If Dutch and Russian Dating… Typical Problems (2019, 11 m).
More
Country
The Netherlands holds a unique place in the Russian imagination. This is how our country, and we, are viewed through Russian eyes.
An interview becomes legendary when it gets its own page on
Wikipedia. On February 6, 2024, Tucker Carlson spoke with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. The report (127 minutes) offers a good, or at least broad, opportunity to hear the Russian perspective on the war against Ukraine.
GOPNIK AND THE SLAV SQUAT
Country
What we would call ’tokkies’ or ‘gabbers’, and what elsewhere might be referred to as white trash or hooligans – in Russia, these are called gopniki. Folk culture in a tracksuit.
Photo: Igor Mukhin
Country
Since the age of sixteen, Игорь Мухин (1961) has been taking photographs. Armed with a
Смена-8М camera, he started his journey. So, when he found himself among artists and musicians in the 1980s, he already had a trained eye – and a better camera. Mukhin (sometimes Moukhin) witnessed major changes and began documenting them.
Freedom of speech is decreasing everywhere, though the reasons vary by region. Meanwhile, Big Tech’s power is growing, along with its interference. In this new era, a nearly forgotten Soviet answer is reemerging: samizdat, the underground DIY press and distribution network.
Every country has a flag and a coat of arms. The Netherlands has a lion, France has a rooster, New Zealand has a kiwi, and the United States has a bald eagle. In Russia, it’s an eagle with two heads and three crowns, and a man on a horse who has just killed a dragon with a spear.
