Originally Posted by
luitje
This is totally possible. Chip and sign are accepted, but as you will soon discover sellers almost never ask to sign a slip. Very few read the slip and just assume it was a regular chip and pin transaction. Some of them might tell you they can't accept stripe cards. Just ignore and surprise them by swiping your card - many seller simply don't have any experience with "regular" cards.
Best still, just use Apple, Google, or Samsung pay - almost every shop in Russia accepts those (interestingly, my AmEx worked through Apple pay even in places where they didn't accept American Express).
This has been my experience. Truthfully, I've made relatively few credit card purchases in Russia, as I've always traveled solo and always had cash on me to appease the one or two places that still preferred that; however, on more than one occasion when I did pay with a card, the signature slip printed with my transaction and then was promptly stuck in the cash drawer by the seller without ever requesting that I sign it. (I suspect this may have been intentional, with the deciding factor having been the lack of a pen for me to use...)