Considering Russian is not only spoken in Russia but also in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, what would be the safest country to travel to where you can speak Russian? Probably not Russia or Ukraine because of the war but yeah.
Depends. If you’re queer, definitely not anywhere in the former USSR (except for some of the Baltics).
If you’re not queer, and speak a language of that region, probably that area is your best bet to blend in.
I’m queer sadly :(
Then definitely Estonia, or Lithuania. Although I think it’d be much better to live in the non-Russian part and learn Estonian/Lithuanian (and use it) there. I strongly recommend you do that last part especially.
Alternatively, you could go to Slovakia, Russia is a minority official language there, though a lot of hospitals refuse service for transition stuff.
For queer in general, not trans, Estonia still would be the best option.
You could also go to Canada - there aren’t many Russian speakers, but there are small communities. Not enough to warrant a “minority” by a certain tyrant, thankfully. Winnipeg has some of them, I think.
You can also get away with being queer in Yerevan. Not anywhere else in Armenia sadly.
Good catch!
Definitely not good for queer issues. Better than sub-Saharan Africa, I guess, but that’s it. Even the fancy parts of MENA seem easier as that kind of traveler.