This study provides a state of the art analysis of the cultural and creative industries in Russia. It includes relevant statistics, the concepts of creative industries and the legislation in the field of cultural and creative industry in Russia, such as the law on culture and the federal program on culture.   The study looks at the basic laws and practices of public organizations such as the changes of cultural institutions towards business orientation, and vice versa the opportunities for creative industry enterprises to take advantage of public funding. In this perspective, the divisions between governmental, non-governmental and commercial organizations as well as the new law on small and medium sized enterprises are presented.   Some basic points of cultural networks and practices dating from the Soviet times are introduced in order to understand the possibilities to build creative clusters and creative enterprises in Russia. In addition, the study describes the volumes of some sectors, as audiovisual and film industry, traditional culture, games industry and cultural tourism.