CRCulver,
I've actually had a somewhat different range of experience traveling around Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Russia and Ukraine, by far, are the worst places to be a foreigner, but it's on account of the almost unbelievable degree of indifference that the locals have for outsiders. On the other hand, Islamic countries (Morocco and Egypt stand out in this regard, it's not true of Syria), are even worse in terms of false hospitality used as a way to con travelers-- and I will say that whether one is Muslim or not (I speak Arabic, so it's ambiguous) is often assessed in these places before they try to rip you off. On the other hand, Ethiopian Christians, I've found, show the best hospitality without desire to con(I've been treated well whether I was superficially perceived there as a Muslim or as a Christian), closely followed by Syrian Christians, Romania/Moldova a distant third...
But yeah, I guess that's a prolix way to say that anyone is friendlier to a foreigner than the Russians.....