Would you recommend visiting Russia on a trip? I always wanted to go there.
Well I would as long as you did a fair bit of research and knew what to expect. I had the advantage of going on a company trip where all the people I traveled with, and most of the people I was working with, spoke English and there were company guides on hand to arrange my housing and necessities.
The first thing you will quickly learn is that outside of the International hotels and restaurants Russia doesn't really cater to Western Tourists in the slightest. Oh, they'll be friendly enough and serve you, but there is virtually no English language translations or guides available. So don't expect it to be like, say France or Germany, where you can walk into a store or restaurant and the signs are bi-lingual and a clerk is readily available who speaks descent English.
Personally, if I went for vacation rather than business, I would go as part of a tour group where the tour company takes care of everything. Something as simple as a foreigner renting a car in Russia can be a multi-day adventure of trying to navigate paperwork written in Russian. Also bring cash as money can be hard to get, because of the financial sanctions most ATM's don't accept non-Russian cards, (though there are a few in some of the major hotels that will)
We were warned about safety, however there was never a time I felt unsafe, there were always plenty of police on the streets, but there had been incidents of tourists being carjacked and robbed. But I doubt it is any more dangerous than any major US city.
Other than that, the people are very friendly, and curious when they find out you're American, very few Americans go to Russia even on business. Again, not many speak English so it's good to have somebody who can translate with you.