And the reverse may be true: despite being a bearer of a Russian passport, he or she may claim to be Tatar, for example, not Russian.
There is a common stereotype that, to people from Asia, all Westerners look the same. We all know that nothing can be further from truth and Thais quite easily tell one foreigner from another.
But still there is an exception – Russians. In local discourse this word is extremely vague, rather like the phrase aharn farang – Western food. Is that French, Italian, Russian, Greek...?
When somebody is referred to as Australian one can easily understand what country he or she is from. With Russians this never works. Nearly every expat from an ex-USSR country (or even from Eastern Europe) is labeled as “Russian”.
Sometimes real problems arise because of this “unifying approach”. Lithuanians, Georgians and – especially now – Ukrainians don’t feel at all happy when they are called Russian, much as the Scots or Welsh never enjoy being called English.
A quick glance at the map lets one see that the territory of the former USSR is really quite complex these days: 15 independent countries plus several unacknowledged states occupy this space.
At the same time the Russian Federation – the biggest among them – is also not homogenous, with more than 180 different ethnic groups living within the borders.
Tatars, Buriatians, Armenians and Azerbaijanis are all “Russians” in the eyes of foreigners, but not in their own eyes.
The common misunderstanding arises from two issues: linguistic and geographic.
English language has only one adjective to describe somebody belonging to Russia as a country and someone who is ethnically Russia, while Russian language has two.
The word Russkiy is used to refer to the ethnics, culture and language, while Rossiyskiy denotes matters relating to the state and nationality.
So there is no such thing as a Russkiy passport. Properly, a passport of the Russian Federation is a Rossiyskiy passport.
The bearer of this document may view himself as belonging to an ethnic group quite different from Russian – Tatar, Chechen or any of dozens more.
Though they are citizens of the Russian Federation, it is quite reasonable to ask them how they prefer to be referred to.
Normally neither Tatars nor Chechens will object to being referred to as Russians, though they will appreciate it more if you refer to them as Tatar or Chechen.
You may get a quite different reaction from somebody who comes from a now independent country such as Georgia or Kyrgyzstan.
Many can write, read and speak fluent Russian but are citizens of a different country, hold a passport from that country and are proud of their cultural and national identity.
So don’t let a Russian accent mislead you. People from more than 20 countries may have that accent.
And if you have a “Russian” partner to deal with, it is always a good idea to learn whether he or she really is Russian.
After all, everyone – not just those from the former USSR – appreciates due respect being paid in conversation to his or her true origins.
Anton Makrov is Managing Editor of The Phuket News’ Russian-language sister paper, Novosti Phuketa.