There is limited data on drug use by Russian youth since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This study provides a convenience sample of 150 Russian adolescents (mean age = 15.4 years) who were surveyed at a suburban Moscow secondary school during the fall of 1992. The findings showed that tobacco and alcohol were the most commonly used drugs, and that there were gender differences in their use. The other illicit drugs were essentially absent from this group of Russian students. More Russian girls than boys had used alcohol, while more boys had used tobacco and at an earlier age than the girls. Tobacco and alcohol use among the Russian sample was similar to that among American samples. Differences were attributed to age variations in the two countries' samples. The findings of this study are representative of only this particular school and grade of Slavic-Russian girls and boys. Large representative sampling is needed to generalize findings of Russian adolescent drug use to the country's 66 million youths. This article recommends national longitudinal and qualitative research designs for future studies in Russia. Tables, references