they are different cities. st. petersburg is more european, living there is slower than in moscow, people are on average more intellectual, there is beautiful architecture and cozy streets all around, but at the same time the city is horribly managed, in winter all the sidewalks are in ice that no one cleans, in summer it stinks from the river. there are a lot of sick people, a lot of crazy people, gloomy drug addicts and alcoholics. i lived there for ten years and i miss it very much, sometimes i go as a tourist, but i don't want to live there, i think it's just unsafe for body and soul. moscow is an incredible, amazing, magical city of cosmic size and diversity. people here are on average more basic than in st. petersburg, but at the same time good-natured and warm-hearted, the city is very well taken care of and even the periphery is being improved, there are places to walk everywhere. but at the same time the very fast rhythm of life and the huge size of the city dominate, there are weeks when all i see is the floor in the subway train, rolled into the asphalt stinking of traffic fumes streets and frowning people hurrying to work or home. the main downside of living in russia is the fucking cold in winter, the rest doesn't really cause any major feelings.
Russian Federation