to be honest this is extremely arrogant thing to say. i dont care who you are or what you've achieved in your lifetime but having such biased remarks do not put you in better light. in fact it actually draws a clear image of nation that you tend to represent, even though you are brought up on western values. by saying "most of the world" you forget the fact that the actual "most" of the population is in china and india. i live in place where there alot of nationals from all over the world. those who actually come from china and india and not the ones born in north america respect russians for the history and how much they managed to achieve. coming from asia, most can refer to engineering sector, military equipment, science etc. intellectuals mention music, art, balley. ohh and by the way actual ukranian people are too huge contributors to these achievements, prestige and status of russian empire as well as ussr.
my neighbour is a musician from kongo, he travels all over africa playing world music. he absolutely loves russians, in fact he claims that people in most african countries that are having corrupt "democratically elected" presidents (who are placed there by western bankers) cant wait for russia to become strong again like in 50-80s to kick those parasites out. most africans still remember the times it was actually going more or less well - bridges, power plants, dams, infrastructure etc were being built then that is still somehow is functioning until today with very little maintenance. i have a russian mate who travels central africa investing and doing business there. he told me that the police and local cartels never touch them unlike western officials who they call leeches.
most iranian and syrian people i met speak highly of russia claiming that they would not exist if not their northern ally. my eye surgeon in moscow who also teach in university is syrian who came to study and stayed. when i been to south armenia there were plenty of iranian tourists and they respect russia for its place in history.
i have a cuban neighbour too by the way. this guy shakes my hand very hard and saying few russian words every time he sees me - and im not even russian national, i was just born there. do you even know what it feels like to be respected like that just for sharing such identity? it feels good. although i cant claim any responsibility for how russian history turned out to be - for good or for worse. at the end of the day when people notice that russia is becoming stronger day by day i feel more respect being drawn towards me while being surrounded by the international community.
- this is the identity that your "democratically elected" leaders are trying to detach ukrainians from. can you blame those who refuse to be detached from the russian identity? a country is not a prison - you cant force people to live there against their will. the only thing that glues any country together is identity. once you make segregation watch pieces fall off. 'divide and concur' comes to mind, no? 100 years ago ukraine as such didnt exist. those who designed ukrainian state to be the way it is are doing so merely to bite off a piece off russian zone of influence. but its fine. if you dont relate to russian culture anymore you can go, but please dont force those who still wish to be part of russian culture to become something they are not. please understand that.
now if you claim that "most of the world" hates russia then ill have to upset you. the "most" part that you are referring to (ie north america) cant even locate ukraine on the map. in fact the actual "most" of them dont even know the difference between ukrainians and russians. so when these people claim such things you have to realise that they probably hate ukrainians too.