This article discusses the changes in Russian higher education policies and the role of international organizations--the World Bank and OECD--in promoting education reforms in this country. General and specific recommendations offered by the World Bank and the OECD expert teams to improve Russian higher education are analysed to determine if any of their suggestions have been considered and applied in recent government policies. We explore the mechanisms though which new policies are implemented at the institutional and national levels. Finally, we suggest that higher education institutions and the Russian government experience coercive, mimetic, normative and discursive pressures emanating from these global policy actors.