“” “” What you describe is the result of Russian government policies and tit for tat retaliation between Russia and the US over several years. And what percentage of Russians can afford to travel to the US, and how many does the government even allow to travel to the US.”” “”
There is no iron curtain and much more Russians than Americans are travelling abroad although numbers vary by year in the first case. For example in 2017 exactly 36% of all Russians traveled abroad for average two weeks mostly to Turkey, Belarus, Finland, Spain, Germany, Cuba, Vietnam and China.
Compare it to average just 5% Americans coming abroad every year and these are mostly short trips near-abroad to Mexico or Canada. Considering these statistics it is more like US and not Russia maintains the iron curtain to keep people in.
Currently Russia doesn’t have any legal procedures to keep its citizens in so I have no idea what you means by “how many does the government even allow to travel to the US”. It is the decision for traveler himself and US consular officers. Russian government has no say on it.
Of course, you are right that the purchase power of an average Russian folded about twice in the five years but if you would look into a statistics by credit card companies it has mostly affected their spending abroad but not the ability to travel. According to Visa their Russian card holders spent average $2730 during foreign trips in 2016 and only $1676 in 2018.
That is quite a dramatic decrease but latter is still more than enough to afford a travel to US because it is still higher than the average EU national spending in North America which is $1174.
Also US is obviously a cheaper destination comparing to Europe, hotel fees, restaurants and shopping considered.
How much travel to Iran for vacation? That was the gist for my initial remark, or question; do Russians really want their nation allying with Iran and China rather than Western nations. Where they're traveling is probably not the best indicator of what they prefer for their nation.
And I'm not buying it that every Russian is free to travel anywhere, anytime, virtually without their government's permission.
A free press and the right to criticize their government, and objective public opinion polls could tell us far more about what the citizens think. What Russians think of this Putin initiative is probably the most relevant current question. Do you think they'll be thrilled to be disconnected from the internet beyond Russia?
Putin Signs 'Russian Internet Law' To Disconnect Russia From The World Wide We