Working for a UK firm (but with Russian clients) doing infrastructure work for alright $$$? From September to March. Anyone lived there?

Expensive ! depends alot on your budget and where you will live – I visit regularly ( we have a big office there ) and know plenty of people who are living there full time.

Do you speak any Russian yet – if not start now and learn to read basic cyrilic alpherbet it will help with trainsport big time. Also don't think of riding in Mosow but plenty of weekend riding possible.

Also get ready of a new kind of cold, winter is seriously cold ( but ALmaty is worse.)

My mate lived there for a few years, didn't really like it that much. Expensive as said. Not really much in the way of pubs – everyone just drinks at home – apart from the elite in expensive clubs etc.

Funnily enough he said the cold wasn't that bad – not as damp cold as in the UK.

sister in law coming home tomoz from 2 years of living/working there. Good money to be had, cold in winters, hot inside appartments due to uncontrollable heating systems, er can't remember what else she said but she's fully had enough and couldnt stand it any longer.

it sounds 5hit! thanks though

– if not start now and learn to read basic cyrilic alpherbet it will help with trainsport

I would finish with English before starting Russian 😆

-15 in Jan when I visited. Think it probably get's colder than that too.

Russians have a very wierd concept of manners too.

Handy for Prestwick airport and the Ayrshire coast.

I go a few times a year for work (when you say 'UK firm', do you mean a law firm?). As lots of people have already said, it is stupidly expensive – half-decent business hotels basically start at £250 per night. The food is also terrible, the roads are shocking and the people can be quite aggressive. Despite that, I love it. Having local friends helps if you want to properly scratch beneath the surface, but once you do it's a really fun place to be. It does get stupidly cold in winter, but as Grum says it's somehow less depressing than UK winters as it's not as windy all the time.

That said, I'd be reluctant to work or live there, depending on the field. While it's come a long way from the days of the 'Wild East', it can still be a pretty dangerous place to do business.

Expensive, dodgy, rude and COLD.

-17 when i visited in february….it was colder (but A LOT prettier) in st petersburg

Russian girls are very accomodating 😉

Ah druidh that’s mosCOW as in the bovine creature, easy mistake to make for incomers.