Last March, I had to move out of the apartment on Oktyabrskaya Street in Moscow where I lived for 10 years. In a big city with lots of available places, I did not expect it to be hard to find a new room, and I made my first pick shortly after going online. There was one thing that I more or less ignored: Like many of the listings, the description of the rental contained the phrase “Slavs only.”

In Moscow, many believe that migrant laborers from the Caucasus region and Central Asia rent accommodations in order to convert them into so-called rubber apartments, cramming 10 or more people into them. Foreign workers, or gastarbeiters, who come here ready to work all sorts of jobs, are usually identifiable by thick southern accents. But that was not me.

As an Armenian raised and educated in Moscow, I have always considered myself a Muscovite, part of Russian society. Although I am not Slavic, I think and speak in Russian, and my Armenian is limited. I don’t condone the racial stereotyping, but the “Slavs only” notices in the real estate listings did not make me raise an eyebrow.

When I dialed the number for the place I liked, the agent was very polite. He liked that I was local and worked for a good firm near the Belorusskaya metro station downtown. We were preparing to set up a meeting, but then he asked for my name.