Comedian Evgeny Chebatkov has announced that he has obtained a residence permit in Russia. In an interview with designer Artemy Lebedev on the "Very Good Podcast," the artist shared how his life has changed since then, as reported by infohub.kz.
According to Chebatkov, his interactions with the state have become simpler; for instance, he no longer needs to carry a translated passport with him at all times. To obtain the residence permit, the comedian had to pass several exams, including tests on Russian language and history.
Despite receiving the permit, Chebatkov admitted that he still hasn't fully integrated into Russia's cultural code. "I still haven't fit into Russia's cultural code. It shows in small things," he said. As an example, he cited a situation where you need to talk to someone surrounded by twenty people. In Russia, he said, you can approach and shake hands only with the person you know, then ask your question. However, as a Kazakh, he first greets all twenty people, and only then gets down to business.
Chebatkov also shared that he is delighted to meet fellow Kazakhs and exchanges phone numbers with them, and abroad he is drawn to Russian speech. "When I meet a Kazakh, I rejoice and exchange numbers. Likewise, when I hear Russian speech abroad, I rejoice and want to go towards where it's spoken. In Russia, people usually don't do that," he noted.
The conversation also touched on differences between Kazakhstan and other CIS countries. Lebedev remarked, "A person from Kazakhstan won't go to another country to lay tiles, and it's always been that way." Chebatkov responded that there are enough opportunities to earn money in the country itself.
Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle reported that Evgeny Chebatkov supported a budding singer from Temirtau on social media.