Highly suggest to completely straight acting at passport control, officers not necessarily speak English fluently, in my case one of them barely demonstrated capabilities of communicating properly, thus less is more. Any ironic joke may well be misinterpreted, thus completely uncalled for.

Passport control officers should not be interested whether you are single or married, as long as your passport, visa, ticket out of Russia and hotel confirmations are ok. You present your documentation at the booth, along with a corteous smile, that always goes a long way, and let them do the screening of the all pages of your passport, visa authentication, blue light screening on your passport, etc. You may wait for your friend after being screened, one at a time. If the awkard question comes up from an officer "Where is your wife?" is answered with a smile "Just me visiting Russia".

At hotels, specially large chains, they just could not care less; Anyway, in the army sometimes buddies have to sleep together thus someone carelessly booked you a double bed, whatever - You are buddies who are willing to share the room, that simple.

Do not make it explicit you are husband & husband or husband and which one is the wife. Life is simple and enjoy Russia.

I was there recently in Saint Petersburg and can assure you will just love the city... specially if you enjoy walking along the nice streets and Nevsky Prospekt, their main avenue. You will be in for a treat, both of you. When tired simply choose a cafe and order an americano or cappucino - two words that are the same in English and Russian and enjoy the people and the scenario. Also, do ride their subway and enjoy their beautiful stations !

If there is an additional day, spend it at Peterhof - and their beautiful gardens.

Spasiba = Thank you