This paper relates the history of simultaneous interpretation in Russia. Simultaneous conference interpretation was first practiced in Russia towards the end of the 1920s on rather primitive equipment. Research in simultaneous interpretation began in the 1960s and the concepts of the primacy of the sense of the message and the significance of interpreters’ extra-linguistic knowledge underlay the training from the very beginning. A brief description is given of the history of the few schools of translation and interpreting existing in Russia. The author shows to what extent ongoing research in SI in Russia had an impact on the curricula of the schools. Finally, several suggestions are made on how to improve both training methods and lab equipment in future.