I've recently moved to St Petersburg as part of an exchange semester for my graduate program and to become fluent in Russian. That said, I have no idea what seduction and dating is like here - what's expected, what the big faux pas's are, etc. I've heard that it's a fairly chivalrous society and guys are expected to pay for most things. I speak reasonable Russian and am hoping to become fluent here, but I obviously communicate a lot better in English.

I've heard lots about how attractive Western guys are to Russian women, and the fact that I have 100+ Tinder matches in three days since getting here seems to attest to that. I've also heard plenty of warnings about how most Russian girls are just looking to get pregnant/latch on to a foreigner to get out of the country. Are fairly casual hookups a thing here, or should I expect to have to put in the amount of effort articles like this suggest? I'm wondering if anyone here can comment with their own experience on the matter.