Black Russian: how black Russians live

About 70 thousand Russians are black, which is less than 1% of the population of the 144 million Russian Federation.

Samson Sholademi.
Screenshot from BBC video

Edition with the BBC found out how they live, what problems they face and what passers-by ask them most often.

Muscovite Samson Sholademi noted that he never felt special because of his skin color.

“Having been born in Russia, living all my life in Moscow, I won’t say that I feel any specialness in relation to the rest of the city’s residents, that I have a different skin color,” he said.

However, the man admitted that he sometimes faced with too strong a reaction to his citizenship by foreigners.

“When traveling abroad, at passport control, or simply when they ask where I’m from, and I answer that I’m from Russia, they begin to be very surprised. I have to tell you for a long time that such people also live in Russia,” Sholademi noted.

According to him, because of the color of his skin, he is often given compliments about good command of Russian.

“Often I hear a compliment: “Oh, how well you speak Russian.” To this I answer: “And you speak well,” he noted.

Screenshot from BBC video

Katerina Novoseltseva is the first black girl in the Russian national basketball team. Katerina’s father is from Sierra Leone, and she was born in Rostov-on-Don, where she lived a significant part of her life.

According to her, racism exists in Russia, and a black person needs to choose the places where he will go.

“Of course, I cannot say that there has never been any racism. There was a period when racism was generally developed. It was short-lived, especially in Rostov. You just have to always understand where you should go and where you shouldn’t,” the girl explained.

She is sure that she is Russian more than many whites in the country, since she has done a lot for this state.

“When they tell me: “You’re not Russian,” I answer that “I’m more Russian, probably, than you.” Because I played for the national team, and I did a lot for Russia, so I feel and feel like a Russian person, but with black skin,” the athlete noted.

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