The article considers the status of learning Russian as a foreign language in the school and higher education systems of education at present. The material of the reports of the participants of the International Scientific Conference «Tikhonov Readings» explores how the educational process is carried out, identifying problems arising during studies. An analysis of foreign pedagogical experience in the school and academic systems reveals trends in language teaching methods. In the context of multilingual education and international cooperation, knowledge of a foreign language is a sign of success and competitiveness. Participants of the educational process emphasize the importance of learning Russian, which has the status of an official language used on a par with the native language (in Kazakhstan), the language of interethnic communication (in Moldova), the de facto second native language (in Uzbekistan). The absence of native language teachers and the social exclusion of the population are mentioned among the problems encountered in implementing the educational process in a non-linguistic environment in Iran and Iraq, despite a high interest in learning Russian. Knowing the characteristics of the native language of students and teaching taking into account the grammatical features of their language system helps to eliminate the interference that occurs when mastering a new language and makes it difficult to study it. As a result of an analysis of the best practices of the participants of the educational process, it is possible to discern a tendency to adopt a communicative and activity approach in teaching of Russian as a foreign language, which is to bring the teaching process to the conditions of real communication as close as possible. The use of information and communication technologies plays an active role in the classes, which help to visualize the learning process, convey acoustic features of speech to native speakers, develop critical thinking, and communication skills of trainees. Fishbone is one of the most used methods of working during Russian language lessons aimed at activating speech-oriented activities.