This article tries to identify and describe a set of basic Russian cultural codes (somatic, spatial, temporal, biomorphic (animalistic, vegetative), substantial (clothes, gastronomic items, utensils, money, transport), which are necessary for students learning Russian as a foreign language for the formation of their linguistic and linguoculturological competence and removal of so-called cultural barriers arising in the collision (or cross-lingual matching) of the native culture with the foreign one. The study is significant and urgent since cultural mistakes that are allowed to foreign students are perceived much more acutely than the linguistic mistakes and often produce a negative impression.