Of course, school pupils in my country (and presumably in other Eastern European countries) were often told how the evil Americans were just waiting for a good opportunity to throw their bombs. Of course, people didn't generaly believe in propaganda - seeing as they lied about internal events, there was no reason to believe them about external events. It's not surprising that genuine anti-Americanism appeared in Russia only after the propaganda ceased and the media became free.
While this explains your attitude towards Russia, it's strange that it extends to other Slavs; it's not as if Communism was embraced voluntarily in any of those countries.
A lot of them are pro-Russian and anti-West, which I find weird considering what Russians have been doing to them for the last several generations. Humans are often distrustful of things they find weird.
(and again, it's not like this is something I think about...at all, outside this forum and the rare (for me at least) real life discussions of the region. I acknowledge that I have a stereotype, understand that I probably shouldn't and would never let it reflect my relationship with any real life Slavs I may run into on a day to day basis....again, as if I could tell by looking at them.)
Ah ha! I was on the right track.
My parents are like that too. They lived through events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, so I can see where they're coming from. I used to be like that Russia as well. That was back in the day when I took my parents' opinion, and made it my own.
But, as simply as I can put it, I'm a child of the 90s. So when I began to think for myself and form my own opinions, my 90s roots took hold. What I think of Russia is quite different than what I thought 5-6 years ago. Now I want closer cooperation, and for us to stop treating them like second-class citizens.
Those two things the old me would have never gone for in a million years.
I liked Russia a lot more 5 or 6 years ago than I do now.