Not just in Russia, a smile has to be 'earned'. In France, too. The French are often described as 'aloof' or 'arrogant' when they use their normal, 'undertaker

Not just in Russia, a smile has to be 'earned'. In France, too. The French are often described as 'aloof' or 'arrogant' when they use their normal, 'undertaker face'. But that is their cultural norm. They too, find that smiling for no reason is weird. If you earn a French smile, you are sure that they like you for yourself. You need to live in a country to learn these things.