Get set to be greeted by the Russians, with a grandiose display of a regal past from the Romanovs to Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. In the form of tall spires, arched bridges, graceful canals, onion domes, icon paintings and wedding-cake skyscrapers; a fusion of Western and Eastern influences can be found everywhere. Backed by a legacy of literary and art greats like: Tolstoy, Chekhov, Pushkin, Rublev, Levitan and Vrubel; Russians are a cultured community who are widely read and attend theatre regularly.

Now connecting with Russia, and making a call to friends and family, is faster and cheaper. However, before placing a call to Russia, find out what the current time is in the city you want to call. As Russia spans an incredible eleven time zones, and Moscow and St. Petersburg are three hours ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time. This implies that it is eight hours later there than it is on the Eastern Coast of the continental US and eleven hours later than the West Coast.

Simple Steps to Call Russia:

* Dial the international access code 011.

* Dial Russias country code 7.

* The 0 at the start of the city code does not need to be dialed. (Moscow city code is 095)

* Dial the remaining digits.

Over the years, rates to Russia has steadily decline. Offers between 2 cents per minute to 12 cents per minute to call Russia are now very common among long distance providers and phone card companies. What is the catch? Again, have you heard of connection fees, monthly charges and maintenance fees? These can add up big time and can easily double the rates as promised by these phone companies. And one more thing, while Russias phone system is one of the most advanced in the world, be aware that there are cheap long distance carriers that can actually make the connections frustrating to consumers.

Privet (pronounced preevyet) is the normal way to say hello or good day in general Russian parlance. English is not a widely spoken language in Russia; hence communication may be a problem. Especially since the same word in Russian can have several meanings, similar to English homonyms. Keep yourself armed with relevant numbers, or nyet (no) may just be the only reply you get. Good-natured persistence can easily turn it into a da (yes).

The next time you want to call Russia without any confusion, use prepaid long distance service and dont bother about how you call, when you call and how much you talk. With prepaid long distance, calling Russia is as easy and as cheap as it can get.