The purpose of the study is the use of Russian borrowings in French as a material for intercultural communication skills formation. Research objectives: to find Russian borrowings in mass-media and informal Internet communication of 20162019; to analyze formal features and identify semantic changes in Russian borrowings in French; to develop assignments for seminars in theoretical disciplines at a language university and for classes in theory and practice of translation for non-linguistic universities, as well as for extracurricular work. Material: the Russian borrowings that function independently of the context of Russian culture. Results: The obtained data allow us to consider about 150 Russian words in French expressing the communicants' own thoughts when communicating on topics not related to Russian culture over the past four years. French words formed with Russian elements, but nonexistent in Russian have also been discovered: bérézina, cacatov, russkoff, pavlova, salade russe, le syndrome tolstoïevsky, tchernobyliser. Several dozen of them were included in the assignments: terms of science and art: constructivisme, cosmonaute, dubnium, jarovisation, liman, mendélévium, pavlovien, permien, podzol, polynie, printanisation, solonetz, solonchak, spoutnik, steppe, Art steppique, tchernozem, tokamak, taïga, toundra, vernalisation; names of animals: barzoï, beluga, kolinski, mammouth, morse, samoyède, zibeline; names of dishes and drinks: blinis, bortsch, kacha, koulibiac, koumys, malossol, pirojki, sterlet, vodka, zakouski; common words: niet, kalachnikov, kopeck, bistro, cocktail Molotov, astrakan, appatchik, moujik, salade russe, troïka. For example: Explain the etymological doublet concept (take zibeline and sable as an example); Consider modifications to the toy designation: “Matriochka babouchka, poupées gigognes en bois. Ensemble de Noël de 3 poupées de nidage - Matryoshka Dolls”. For the translation course, types of creative assignments on reverse translation have been developed as well as extracurricular search for interpretation of Russian borrowings: round tables, events (Translator's Day), video projects (for example, a video with a survey of young French people about the meaning of the word bérézina). Findings: The use of Russian borrowings as a material for mastering the linguistics theoretical concepts causes emotional acceptance and genuine interest of students due to the impression of familiarity which contributes to the formation of intercultural competence and comprehensive linguistic competence.