Yes, I'm a Russian, and Pushkin is indeed my "Byron connection". Funny how predictable things like that could be. I think your last sentence is selection bias

Yes, I'm a Russian, and Pushkin is indeed my "Byron connection". Funny how predictable things like that could be. I think your last sentence is selection bias at play - a non-Russian is more likely to meet an educated Russian, rather than the average one. This bias likely accounts for 99% of the appearance. For the remaining 1% you may actually have a valid point - literary education in the 20th century Russia was a bigger part of the education system, even on the technical tracks, when compared to the US.