Background. COVID-19 has revealed the diversity of cultural characteristics and mentalities of di!erent countries: every people living through the pandemic interprets the means of overcoming the crisis in their own way, in accordance with their historical experience and cultural traditions. Objective. "e purpose of this study (April 2 — May 2, 2020) was to identify the in$uence of cultural factors and the context of residence (living in their own country or in another culture as a migrant) on how people perceive and experience a pandemic. Design. "e study involved 605 people: 402 Russian-speaking respondents (221 migrants living outside their countries) and 203 representatives of other cultures (165 Spaniards and 38 migrants from di!erent countries). "e main research method was a survey using a specially prepared questionnaire (in four languages — Spanish, English, German, and Russian). Results. Cultural factors had a strong in$uence on how a people experienced a pandemic. Respondents from European and other cultures (non Russian speakers) were very intolerant of dissent in the %ght against the pandemic; showed an increase in patriotism; and demonstrated increased readiness for an operational response to the situation through a change of activity. Russianspeaking respondents showed great loyalty to di!erent positions and di!erent behaviors during pandemic situation; expressed the desire to wait out the pandemic and quickly return to their usual way of life; their main preventive measure was self-isolation, which was considered an opportunity for the development of something new. "e perception of a pandemic by migrants di!ered from its perception by the native population. Conclusion. Common to all representatives of the international sample were the ideas of necessary international cooperation and universal responsibility to overcome the pandemic. But the cultural factors and having a migrant’s status had a strong in$uence on the perception and experience of the pandemic, which depends on the mentality and historical experience in di!erent countries.