(‚Black‘ as in skin color That Americans would consider as black)

I was listening to a podcast about Yelena Khanga, and she was adamant that she herself never experienced this growing up in the Soviet Union (ie wasn’t discriminated against when looking for a job, an Apartment, etc.)

Just how accurate would this assertion be? I’m aware that many different ethnicities did experience what we would call institutional racism, especially within the Red Army, but how was skin color treated? Did her status as a descendant of an American expat meant that her case was the exception rather than the rule?