I think most people have a very short list of ideas when Russia comes to mind. I think most of them have to do with vodka or communism. It was fairly surprising to me when I first came to learn that Russia is quite conservative, probably more so than the US.
The state church is of course the Russian Orthodox church. Nearly 50% of the population claims to be Christian, which I guess isn't a whole lot compared with the US's 75%. But if you consider that for a while it was quite uncool (understatement) to be a Christian in Russia, I would say that that is a pretty significant percentage.
Near the big fountain which I consider the center of town, there was (and perhaps still is) a large sign discouraging the practice of abortion. People marry and have children quite young here (average marriage age for men is 26 vs. 29 in the US, 23 vs. 27 for women). Most people know about Russia's attitude toward homosexuality because of the Olympics. I don't have any personal knowledge, but second-hand I've heard that male homosexuality is quite taboo here, definitely more so than in Europe or America.
I've heard Russians themselves say that they are racist, and I would agree that they are more so than Americans of my acquaintance. Maybe not more so than Vietnamese, though. Then again, Vietnam doesn't get immigrants the same way that Russia does. Primary targets here are the Tajiks. I myself have noticed that young men with central Asian features tend to be extremely reckless crossing the road, often causing some horn sounding.
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