My husband and I are taking a Baltic sailing cruise in a few weeks, and one of the stops is St. Petersburg. We've booked a semi-private third-party tour with a few other (straight) couples from the ship, but a friend told us we may face some uncomfortable questions from the tour guide (?!) and even from Russian passport control if we, for example, wear our wedding rings. Something along the lines of "But if you're here for tourism only, where are your wives?"

This honestly never would've occurred to me.

We're both perfectly boring and clean cut, and neither exhibits any stereotypical mannerisms -- though it makes me sad that it would still matter. Just how oppressive are things these days in Mother Russia? Should we remove our wedding rings and refuse to discuss our domestic arrangements, even if the tour guide asks in polite conversation?

Do know that we wouldn't normally make an effort to visit Russia in its current political climate. We're just going as part of this cruise.

Thanks!