Using acoustic measurements and native speaker perceptions, the cues for place of articulation of Russian plain and palatalized stops were investigated. The acoustic measurements were made of formant transitions, burst duration, and spectral burst shape. They showed that formant transitions distinguish place of articulation of plain consonants, but not palatalized consonants. Differences distinguishing place of articulation were found in the burst durations and in the ratio of energy between the upper and lower portions of the burst spectra. In the perception experiment, native Russian speakers listened to various consonant–vowel stimuli. Hearing only the formant transitions, listeners were able to identify place of articulation of just the plain stops. When they heard stimuli with conflicting cues for place in the burst and formant transitions, in the majority of the cases, they identified plain consonants based on the formant transitions, but they identified palatalized consonants based on the burst. It is concluded that while formant transitions do provide the strongest cues for place among plain stops, they do not provide cues for place among palatalized stops. The cues for place of articulation of palatalized consonants are contained completely in the duration and spectral shape of the burst.