It’s funny, I never noticed this. I grew up in Germany and had lived in the US for a year a while back. A few years after I met an American friend here who had been on a euro trip. She went to Prague (not exactly Russia, but culturally close enough I guess) and she said something like: "why are all people there so damn depressed?" I myself had great times in that same city, I never got that feeling. But I realized that there is a big cultural difference. I told her: "That’s how they are. They are still happy and loving people, they just show it differently".

I would never perceive them as being depressed. Interesting how your surrounding culture can change your perception of things.