Studying Russian language

Здравствуйте! I'm a heritage speaker also at B2 level. From my experiences so far, Russian is still prominent. I only recently returned from a 17 day holiday in Lithuania and I spoke Russian more or less the entire time. It's true that Russian is being boycotted by some groups but it's going to be natural that it's usage will persist in countries which still hold sizable Russian diasporas. Don't be discouraged from travelling, and if anyone does question your usage of Russian just tell them it's (what I'm assuming to be) one of your only means of communication other than English.

(Please excuse the poor formatting, the tsr website on mobile really isn't the best lol)

Доброе утро! Ah that’s good to know thank you! I wasn’t sure of the situation in the Baltics but I’m glad that it’s still widespread. I was going to do a year abroad at the St Petersburg School of Economics but unfortunately this isn’t possible anymore

Despite what a lot of these political groups say I think it is a great language for intercultural communication in the region, which is why I learned it! I’m a native German speaker (though I’ve lived in the UK for most of my life) but that’s not very widely spoken outside of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and some parts of Central Europe

I have recently started learning Russian again, I’m at B2 level so fairly proficient. I’m wondering how I can actually use my language skills practically given the current situation. Do you think the language has become less strategically important?

I have thought about travelling to Central Asia and the Caucasus, however a friend from Georgia has told me it’s being used a lot less in those countries now as a political statement against Russia.