we have been twice, once 6 years ago, then 5 years ago. At that time it was peaceful enough. The first time we went to a spa hotel in Hurghada which we very much preferred to our second visit which was to Sharm el Sheik. If I can recall the name of the place we went to first, I'll come back and say. We went because dh dives and we thought it might be quite interesting to see the sights which we did, a bit each time. It was considered dodgy to drive down to Luxor but we did go and didn't pick up on any animosity. We also went to Cairo from Hurghada and loved the museum. The second visit we went across to St. Katherine's monastery which was a longish walk up the mountain.
I wouldn't go back to Sharm, it didn't really appeal to me much. A lot of jelly fish in the water where we were staying and if your dc do not have full suits on (legs and arms) and get stung it is painful . Saw a few screaming dc as a result. I did not feel unsafe off the resort but we simply took a taxi to where we wanted to go and arranged for the taxi driver to collect us later on. I don't know where you would go outside of your hotel area which is not a huge tourist trap, so there will be crowds of other tourists wherever you go IYSWIM
I thought the airport was efficient and whenever we booked anything via the hotel(s), felt we were very well taken care of. I don't think I have ever felt that well taken care of on an excursion anywhere else really. THe hotels work with tour guides and absolutely everything is organised for you, it is like a child being kindly taken in hand by an adult. Despite the crowds and hustlers everywhere, it still felt quite relaxed for that reason.
Re the Russians. Yes, there are a lot of Russians around I found too. Not in our first hotel but in some of the neighbouring resorts and in Sharm almost everyone assumes you are Russian, I think it must be becoming a very popular destination for Russians.A shopkeeper mistook us for Russian when dd and I were strolling along past his shop and called out for us to look inside. I said, we are not Russian and he was very apologetic about it. "I am very sorry, Madam, very sorry". I hadn't been insulted but I did get the impression they are not thrilled with the Russians. From what I saw in Sharm el Sheik this is understandable.