Mici,
Sorry if you understood me to mean our Russians are mite proof. I simply stated "they have excellent mite resistance" and I will stand by that statement. I made no claims of having no mites. Nor did I make any claims that " by having a Russian queen you're good." We medicated our 6 hives the first year mainly because we got a couple of Russian queens open bred to Italian drones from another supplier and their hives developed a mite problem. (Note: I did not name or recommend that supplier. I'm not saying all Russians bred with Italians are going to have mite problems, the 2 we had did.) The only medication we used was wintergreen oil in grease patties. We medicated a few of the 10 hives we went into the second winter with just simply because "as rookies" we thought we were supposed to. Didn't medicate the third winter and have seen no need to and are not planning on medicating this year. Used SBB on all hives until this year, but even the ones with solid bottoms are doing well. Yes, I've seen a few mites, especially in my starter hives, but, once their strength builds, they have "resisted" the mite population growth to a point where medication is not necessary. As far as aggressive behavior and all other points, "We have only positives to report...." We have absolutely no complaints and no reason to consider trying other bees.
As I implied in my other post, I expect other beekeepers with other bees could copy this post and just substitute 'Russian' with his preferred bee. I would not question his statement. I can only report on our personal experiences with our bees.
I'm sorry if my other posts misled anyone, and I hope this clears things up.
Arvin