There is a peculiar word in the Russian language – HALYAVA. Oh, how sweet this word is for Russian ears! Moreover, it is quite hard to translate the word into languages, but the common modern meaning of it is something free or something that you get with no efforts. It is in the very nature of Russian people, because they are learnt to like halyava, when they are only in their cribs. The whole lot of Russian fairy tales are about people who get free stuff – magic table-cloth (which serves the meals), magic golden fish (which makes the wishes come true), magic oven (which cooks pastries) and so on. 

There are different kinds of halyava, but some of them became so basic, that it seems inappropriate to pay for this at all. Moreover, free stuff can make Russian person happy and satisfied. Look at Russian tourists around the world and you will observe this trait. In the last 10 years, the most common kind of free stuff has been Internet halyava. No one self-respected Russian pays for home movies and music, or programs, or games. We are sure that one can find everything on the Internet for free. New movies appear on some websites earlier than in cinemas – quality differs from movie to movie, but the very fact is pretty amazing. That’s why fee-paying movie and music services like Netflix or App Store are not popular among average people. Why would I pay, if I can get it free, right?

To my mind the reason for loving free-load so much is the high level of poverty in Russia, as came from the Soviet times. People are get used to live like that, counting every coin.

The next truly Russian national feature is getting free stuff from work. It became so customary, that inhabitants even don’t see it as stealing anymore. I am not saying that all the Russians are thieves, no. We just take things from work that are not used there. It can be some little things, that one can use in a household or waste that one can sell and get some money. For example, men working at manufactures or at construction projects often take cables, withdraw copper from it and sell for good money. A good friend of mine once has made a bonus to himself this way. The bonus was like 1000$ in one month. 

Also Russians don’t like paying for public transport. That’s why the system is becoming more complicated every year. 15 years ago it was very easy to use buses, suburban trains, even metro free of charge. Today it’s much more difficult, but people find the ways to do that anyways. We call the people who don’t pay in public transport, 'hares' (in Russian 'zayats'). 

As you could guess, Russians also love the restaurants which work with the system “all you can eat”, and better if someone else pays for the set. Russians actually call this type of system “Sweden table”. You just must see the behavior of Russians when they have the opportunity of Sweden table. They wouldn’t go until they get sick. They try everything on the menu and eat it as long as they can. If breakfast at a hotel lasts three hours, self-respected Russian will be there… for all three hours! When Burger King with its “drink as much as you want” came to Russian cities, locals were so happy. Poor things just went there, bought the cup and sit there for hours, sipping sugar water. 

Russians are famous for their behavior during their vacations, when they take away a half of a hotel room – not like Ross from Friends (he had the philosophy) – including towels, shampoo, soap, glasses, etc. There are much more examples of stuff Russians like to take free – actually, it can be anything – but the reason why Russians like free things is that the life for the majority in Russia is not easy and they are used to cut down their expenses as much as possible. It is a burden that came from Soviet Union and even earlier. Through the generations the majority of population lived on the poverty line in a richest country, which is nothing, but sad.