Phonology

VOWELS
more or less like in Spanish or Italian. Roughly;

а/a - AH (open center unrounded)

е/e - EH (mid front unrounded)

и/i - EE (closed front unrounded)

о/o - OH (mid back rounded)

у/u - OO (closed back rounded)

SEMIVOWELS
й/j - like Y in Yes

ў/w - like W in Was

CONSONANTS
п/p - like P in 'sPill'

т/t - like T in 'sTill', never a tap as in USA

к/k - like K in 'sKill'

б/b - like B in 'Big'

д/d - like D in 'Dig', never a tap as in USA

г/g - like G in 'Give', never "soft" as in 'edGe'

м/m - like M in 'My'

н/n - like N in 'No', end-syllable can be as 'M' or 'NG' if speaker likes that way.

ф/f - like F in Spanish 'Fuego' (both lips), but English 'Fire' is OK.

с/s - like S in 'Sour', never "soft" as in 'eaSy'.

х/h - like CH in German 'baCH' or Scottish 'loCH', but as English H in 'Horse' is OK.

р/r - like R in USA's English 'boTTle' or Spanish 'peRo', but English Real is OK too.

ч/z - like CH in 'CHurCH' or TS in 'caTS'

ALLOWED VARIATIONS IN PRONOUNCIATION
Aspirating /p t k/ as in English;

using [v] or [w] for в(w);

using [x] or [h] for x(h);

using [tʃ] or [ts] for ч(z);

using a tap, a trill or retroflex р(r);

opening or closing the vowels slightly;

making end-syllable /n/ sound like [m], [n] or [ŋ] (in that context, there's no distinction);

using sound fricatives before sound stops/occlusives (i.e. pronouncing /sb sd sg/ as [zb zd zg] is allowed).