My dad had pretty much the same experience. He was not Jewish. He was not Russian (slavic/blond/blue-eyed) either. Russophilia, xenophobia, cronyism and nepoti

My dad had pretty much the same experience. He was not Jewish. He was not Russian (slavic/blond/blue-eyed) either. Russophilia, xenophobia, cronyism and nepotism were rampant in the former USSR. A "prominent" Muscovite Jew (but otherwise a lousy student) would have been treated better than the most talented Uzbek/Kazakh/Tajik.