As a resident of Russia, I am pleased to read your review of Russian blades. I also use Ladas blades and I can say that they are of excellent quality. In my city, you can buy them without problems, and the price for them is more than pleasant.I am very sorry that now there are such difficulties with their acquisition. I wish you all peace and kindness.I have been having a lot of luck with the Mostochlegmash Ladas blade recently. Bought 500 as they have been on offer (£5.99 per 100) here. A bit of a gamble but the first few shaves confirmed they are a blade of some quality.
It was one of the first times I have actually worked through a tuck consistently (shocking stuff) being a terrible ADD sufferer when it comes to blades. Or maybe a blade butterfly. I flit from brand to brand with a rather reckless abandon.
Anyway I found the Ladas to be sufficiently long legged with 5 excellent to very good shaves per blade being achieved, and the consistency was rock solid from that small sample. While not top tier in terms of sharpness (sometimes an advantage) they were perfectly sharp enough to deal with my whiskers which are slightly above average in terms of wiryism (new word alert) so they are no pushovers without thorough and prolonged hydration pre-shave. Edge deterioration was also very nicely consistent.
In terms of smoothness they are remarkable. I have not had a single weeper in 25 shaves with the tuck. Not a micro dribble. Nothing. I found this noteworthy. In short, for the price they appear an excellent working mans blade.
I also bought 200 Astra Superior Stainless dated 2019 manufactured at the St Pete plant. Very much looking forward to trying these next. I suspect they will be good.
Strangely I have never wanted to try the Astra SP. I have always been put off by the packaging. Oddly depressing. I find the SS packaging to be much more cheerful.
Amazing how packaging can affect and prejudice (quite irrationally and unfairly) a product, even without using it.
I recall something similar with cigarette pack designs when I used to smoke.