Teacher education in Russia has become the subject of considerable reform over the past 50 years. It is today a complex system of continuous training which gives students a chance to enter the profession in a number of different ways, as well as maintain their professional skill set throughout the course of their careers. This paper offers a comprehensive overview of the history and the state of art initial teacher education in Russia during the last 50 years. It aims to draw on scholarly expertise in Russia and will locate the policies and practices that are discussed within the context of teacher education reform. The main themes of the paper are the history and current practice of Russian initial teacher education. The paper will consider the relationship between policy and practice and examine the respective influences of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and processes of wider reform in the Russian Federation since the 1990s.