The Department was established in 1976 and is nearing 40 years of its existence in 2016. It started functioning with a visiting faculty from USSR (present Russian Federation) to offer a one-year Certificate Course in the Russian Language. In the consequent years, with the appointment of a regular faculty, the department started offering part-time Programmes in Russian Language & Literature such as Diploma, Advanced Diploma. It was raised to a Research Centre in 1990 with the introduction of PG and Ph.D Programmes in Russian.

The Department has signed an MoU in 1995 with the Department of Russian & Methods of its Teaching of the Russian People’s Friendship University (RPFU), Moscow, which promoted collaborative conduct of academic programmes through the exchange of faculty and other related activities. As part of the MoU, during 1996 – 1999, the Department together with RPFU conducted a Foundation course in Russian meant for students seeking admission to the professional courses in RPFU. The ‘Foundation Course in Russian’ was equated to the ‘Preparatory Programme’ offered in RPFU. Besides, Introductory courses in French, German & Russian were also offered at Calicut city during’97-99.