One of my daughters is from Russia. She is wicked smart.
When we adopted her, we brought her to a Russian psychologist down in DC for evaluation - in case there was something we could be aware of. She was orphaned at 6, adopted at almost 16, and we just didn't want to miss anything important.
The doctor told us she'd never evaluated someone who could process multiple things at the same time, as she did. She scored superior in intelligence in a second language (english) she'd just learned months before. The doctor said her scores would have been higher, if the test had been in Russian.
She's beaten me in every game we ever played.
Sample size is just one, but I'm sure there are others like her.
She's grown into a sweet woman, good mom and wonderful daughter.
I was being sarcastic about the Russians. Many of them learn survival skills at a young age and they are smart enough and ambitious enough to excel. Sitting in a grass hut worrying about what tribe will try to kill you next is not their idea of living.