A GoM member came through my village not that long ago. Great guy, we've become good friends, he even gave me some epic loot for free to help me out. He got his friend to come over and I made friends with her, too. I even went to GoM and was greeted warmly. I was expecting to be sniped on sight, but they treated me well during my 3-4 minute visit and let me go on my way hunting without any problems at all. I guess Russians just love crippled Canadians who speak English and broken French and Russian.
The Russians aren't bad guys, they're just a little on edge, which is understandable seeing as from what I've heard, quite a lot of their newbie players have been murdered lately for no known reason.