Funny and strange facts about animefans in Ukraine and Russia:
1. There is a lot of young people watching anime, but almost anywho don't read the manga. At the same time, some of Russians trying to create their own manga. You can find it on SelfManga dot ru.
2. Russian gov't seems don't like anime. Roskomnadzor (Роскомнадзор), most famous Russian internet organization, think that anime = porn. They trying 'fight crime' but not very actively, so, everything fine.
3. A lot of anifans in Ukraine and Russia like to write ficbooks. Maybe even number of authors = number of readers.
4. In Ukraine you can find music bands playing j-rock. For example, Dead Eyes (Deddo Aisu).
5. One of the most popular Japanese persons un Ukraine is Charlie Sakuma - Japanese musician who live in Canada and playing Ukrainian bandura (hard and specific, but very cool instrument). To tell the truth, people know him just as a 'Japanese who playing bandura'.
6. Soviet Union also created some kind of anime.
7. Not all anifans really cute. Some chavs ('gopniks') also watching anime.