The article entitled The Directions of the Development of the Russian System of Education in the 21st century came into existence as a result of the continuation of research on the Russian education initiated with publishing of the series of articles in the 1990s as well as the book Democratic Transformation of Education in Russia, Krakow 2003. The first section of this article is devoted to the current structure of Russian education emphasizing its differences while comparing it to Polish education. The second section is a critical analysis of the state of Russian education at its all levels during the first two decades of the 21st cent., taking into account the changes the system has undergone since the period of Perestroika (1985-1989). The analysis is conducted from the perspective of the social situation of Russia undergoing disadvantageous demographic transformations, with the education influenced to a great extent by ineffective economy as well as Russia`s accession to the Bologna Accords. The final section presents the tendencies of the development of the Russian system of education taking into consideration its unfavorable socio-economic conditions and the lack of stabilization in the country. These are the main directions of the development of global and specific character, resulting from multicultural needs of citizens of this multinational state.
