I do not agree. I do not need to know russian to understand a russian. I know almost 20 russian women here! And minimum 10 personally I met not for 2 days but for a lot more. Someone here might testify it, but it's forbidden for the privacy.
And I understand all perfectly, their coulture and their way of thinking! Not necessary to speak russian at all! And too difficult to speak russian well to understand a russian perfectly.
More: I assure you they can understand me perfectly! 😊)) I always have some russian friends here. Do I speak russian? Not at all!