Geopolitics

Hot take: i feel like an average Russian knows much more about American politics, memes, culture, music, cinema, you name it, than an average American knows about Russia at all

Not surprising. American culture dominates the world. Russians are definitely more curious about the US than Americans are about Russia. But I think Russian interest must be broadened to include the West. They aren’t as curious about China /Asia than they are about Europe and America. Again, not surprising. They share a lot more history with the West than they do with the East.