This is an interesting and valid point. Though, even if I could, why would I? Forming a bond (be it faked or real) with a person who might end up despising you for your blood (which you are trying to escape), and then trying to integrate into a hostile foreign culture — it's like trading one hellhole for another.
It might be worth the struggle in case of a sincere relationship, but not just for the sake of saving my sorry ass.
These are valid concerns. There are racists everywhere. From what I can gather most of the US view race as skin color, so I think you are shielded from the most overt racism.
The US has a complicated relationship between colloquial and academic definitions. Academic is useful for understanding and discussing the history of systemic issues, but sometimes people try to over-fit them to avoid recognizing someone's suffering as legitimate or serious enough to warrant advocacy.
Most people here will apply the colloquial definition which is more or less another word for xenophobia. An academic racial analysis could help understand why someone who's seen as white and foreign is often treated better than someone born here, but someone trying to do that as an explanation for why you shouldn't care about a Russian immigrant's feelings would be rightly seen as a jerk.
