>I avoid talking about the gov
With people from gov like border guys or police, regulars don't care at all.
English is not widespread especially in smaller cities, but with basic voice translate I don't think you would be limited in anything
I never interacted with someone from Belarus, but they seemed chill. I think Viktor Lukashenko looks handsome and papa Lukashenko is hilarious. There briefly was someone from Belarus in a groupchat I was in and I didn't recognize which made me feel like a fool when my Russian friends were like "Oh he was from belarus!"