"Go back to Russia!"

Restauranteur Edouard Torosiants could hardly believe it. After 26 years living in the United Kingdom it was the first time he had received such abuse.

"He said 'what are you doing here? Go back to Russia'," Mr Torosiants told the ABC at his central London restaurant.

He said the abuser was his British neighbour.

"So I don't feel good about it."

Mr Torosiants, who was born in Russia, also recounted one customer asking whether his meal had been laced with poison — a joke he thinks was driven by fear.

"A small joke, but maybe he feels that too."

Since the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March, it has been an anxious time for Russians in London.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a bench. ( AP: Misha Japaridze (L) Facebook: Yulia Skripal (R) )

Trade at Mr Torosiants' restaurant has fallen by 30 per cent, with his usual English customers staying away.

There are other casualties too.

The offspring of Russia's wealthy have struggled to gain visas to attend a renowned Russian Debutante Ball in London, and so for the first time in five years it has been cancelled.

"The general atmosphere is very much against Russia," ball organiser Elisabeth Smagin-Melloni told the ABC from Austria where she is based.

"It was extremely difficult for our debs to get visas, and they informed us already in July and in August that they had to stay for hours and hours and they had to queue in Moscow."

Fashion designer Anastasia Kuatkhina attended the Russian Debutante Ball in London in 2017. ( ABC News: Tim Stevens )

Antastasia Kuatkhina, a fashion designer, attended the 290 pounds ($452) per head ball last year and had been planning to go as a guest this year.

"For me it was wonderful, romantic, mesmerising," the 28-year-old said.

"It was just like [being] transported back in time, everyone is fascinated by the history of the tsars and the power of Russia and the exuberance of the ball."

Many of the participants who had hoped to attend the event will now travel to Vienna instead to take part in a similar event.

"I was so looking forward to going this year, so I feel it was a pity it was cancelled," Ms Kautkhina said.

It is estimated up to 200,000 Russians live in London, and there are more than 700,000 Russian speakers.

The ABC has been told many of the wealthy elite, some who have strong political links to the Russian regime, are scared to speak out, worried they could have their visas revoked.

In March British Prime Minister Theresa May said the Government would conduct a review of residency rights of wealthy Russians in direct response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

It has since been revealed about 700 Russians are being scrutinised as part of that process.

Katerina Nikitina is the editor of ZIMA magazine, which details Russian life abroad. ( ABC: Lincoln Rothall )

"We have rich people, and especially if they are connected to the Government people treat them as if they have something to do with that," Katerina Nikitina, London editor of Russian-language magazine Zima, said.

But she said most everyday Russians had not felt intimidated, although they were concerned the visa rules could change given the low point in diplomatic relations between Russia and the UK.

"That's what bothers me and my friends," she said.

Earlier this month UK authorities concluded two officers from the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU, were responsible for the poisoning of Mr Skripal and his daughter at their home in Salisbury in March.

The British Government was further angered when on Russian state television the accused men appeared in an interview to claim they were just tourists who a friend had recommended visit the Salisbury Cathedral.

More than 20 Russian diplomats were expelled from the UK after the nerve agent attack.