Dating:
1. Give her flowers for her birthday. Candy is also good, but flowers mandatory if you're going to be taken seriously.
2. When you first send flowers, send a rose to her mother. Family is very important to romance in Russia. Letters are read aloud to parents and friends. Woo the mother.
3. Write first. If there has been a lull in conversation, email or real, the male is expected to make the contact. This is much as it was in the US two generations ago. For Sochi, that is still the way it goes.
4. Do not be slow writing letters back, if you are not "attentive" she will think you're not serious. On the other hand, she might be a little slow writing you because she lives in a more difficult place to communicate and she must have translation done too.
5. Here is a great site that has many Russian tender expressions for you to learn to use with your Sochi special lady. It has the Russian and transliterated forms, and when you click on the expression you can here the phrases pronounced. Highy recommended.

Coexistence:
Living with the physical differences.
1. Open doors
2. She'll walk with her arm in yours most of the time.
3. At the grocery store, they taste things as they shop, maybe even things in sealed containers. They also love free things and love eating free things at the deli counter. They don't have the cultural need to buy something because they have eaten free things, so be prepared to be uncomfortable sometimes. Remember that they are uncomfortable more often with you than you with them, as they are in a foreign place. Whenever you're really irritated, remember how you felt in Russia, maybe a bit helpless and dependent? That is everyday to them for the first year or two. Be patient
4. Every Russian I've met including Inna and our daughter Svetlana hates waste. They don't like to waste food, or money. Inna connected with other Russians and knew all the discount stores in a very short time after her arrival here. Inna and Sveta found me to be casual about things that they simply could not understand. I would stop at the 7-11 on the way home and buy milk. They would be upset because I paid more for it than necessary. That sort of fiscal sloppiness means little to me, but is negligence in Russia. The positive side of this is that I saved money the first year they came even though my family was now three instead of one. Within 9 more months we moved from my duplex rental into our new home. It is good to be married to a Russian woman.

Family:
Russian's have deeper connections to their families than most of my American friends. When a woman comes here as a bride, she will not really be "leaving" her family. They will still be part of her life, on the phone, email, and even visits back to Russia. The nice part of this is that her family will take you in as a member too. Inna's mother asks more pointed questions of me than my own mother did. This also means that separation from her family will be a greater stress than it might be for you. Get a cheap international rate for Sochi - 15 cents /minute or less, and let her call as she needs to.
Should you consider a woman with a child? Read one man's opinion on this!

Safety, Status, Religion, and Materialism:
A favorite quote:
"There's no downside to being stupid in America. In Russia there's a big downside to being stupid, you die."

Forgive the necessary generalizations and opinion that go along with this sort of thing, but MAYBE there is value in seeing the broad truisms that lie beneath the surface of these Russian women, the cultural assumptions that make up the "reality" of world view for Russians moving to the USA.

Safety:
Most Russians are safe in Russia, INSIDE their apartment, communal apartment, or home. The home is literally the fortress in Russia, even if it's only your allotted 3 square meters. The outside world is the danger. That translates to a different experience of your home or apartment when she comes to America. Russians take their shoes off at the door and wash their hands first thing. This is the separation of outside from inside. They lock their doors and want substantial, solid exterior doors. They're not crazy about ground floor windows. The want the inside of their world to be beautiful, comfortable and decorated. The home is the core is the sanctuary and respite from struggle - though they love to argue in the family of course, these arguments rarely continue outside the home, and the family business is no one else's business at all.

This means that while any inhabitant of a Western nation feels reasonably secure in their homes, a Russian will probably be afraid in yours. Svetlana, my step daughter would like to put a curtain across our living room so that she wouldn't be able to see the door. They don't like to be reminded that the dangerous outside is just a few inches away. They're not paranoid about this but it is always there, adding to discontent.

Religion:
How dare I talk about this? I am not a religious person, I don't have a great confidence in the existence of a "God", so I'm out of my comfort zone here. However, we get many requests for membership from very religious people, who equate the strong family values of the ladies with a strong religious belief. Just ain't so. It, like so many things Russian is different.

I think the key to this lies in the greater personality of all Russians that I know. They have many ill fitting beliefs, all at once within themselves, and instead of being made inefficient by these chaotic beliefs, lying side by side, they actually are energized by them. For example every Russian I meet would agree that Stalin was a terrible man, and the best thing that happened to Russia in the whole communist period. They hate what he did, they like what he achieved. Russians think Russia is the worst possible mess on the planet economically and socially, every moment on the brink of collapse, while they are sure it will endure forever, and that it is simply the best place in the world. In fact, Russia has always show a tenacity beyond any logic, and in the most extreme circumstances they have incredible durability.

With religion that means for most Russians they are comfortable lighting a candle for their mother in the Orthodox church, while having an coexisting belief that religion is the "opiate of the masses". In fact their religion is more part of their 850 years of being Russian than it is a deeply held religious conviction. Of course, I know personally, among our circle of acquaintances, a few devout women who are reading their bible before bed, as well as women who have no religious conviction at all.