I have been touring southern Russia end of June on the road to Central Asia and also when going back to Italy, so twice in less than one month: Ukrainian border to Elista to Astrakhan, then Astrakhan to Volgograd to Ukrainian border.
I've found nobody but good people that have always been wanting to help me as much as they could in any situation I found myself.
For example, I got lost in three different cities (I had no GPS and there was lack of road signs) and in all these moments I found somebody that offered me to drive me out of town putting me in the right direction.

If it comes to DPS, I was pulled over just outside Elista by the traffic police only to talk a bit and have a pic together, and many other policemen showed appreciation to my motorcycle when passing in front of them (many of them, especially in the Volgograd region, thumbed up at my bike with big smiles as I rode in front of them).
I was fined on the road between Volgograd and the Ukrainian border by DPS because I was riding at 111 km/h with limit of 60: I could not claim, they were right, so I paid the 2000 rubles fine without discussing because the "correct" amount (I think you understand what I mean...) would have been muuuuuuuch more and I was wrong. I was back on the road in less than 10 minutes.

So, at the end, I must confirm the idea that I had during my first very small Russian trip of 2009 (Estonia to St. Petersburg then to Finland): Russians are great people, and their Police is anything but predatory.
I look forward to enter again that fantastic Country.

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Nick and his 2010 Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré