Introduction. The relevance of the research comes from the tendency for the Russian as a foreign language methodology to apply digital learning tools. The research focuses on mobile applications that are used for self-studies by international students learning Russian. The aim of the research is to establish the factors that influence the preferences in online applications among students learning Russian in different countries. The methodology and research methods. The research relies on the theoretical methods of the analysis of scholarly works, the analysis of the distinctive features of learning Russian in the countries with different social and cultural contexts of language education (the Czech Republic, Turkmenistan). The survey used to gather empirical data (the total of 103 respondents) was aimed to identify the preferences of international students in their choice of online language applications. Results. The research established that about 90% of students from both groups resort to using mobile Internet for learning Russian. Students from the Czech Republic choose language online applications much more frequently than their peers from Turkmenistan (80% and 20% respectively). Czech students prefer to use applications with in-built methodology systems that encourage the development of different types of speech activities. Students from Turkmenistan use applications with a limited range of methodology resources. The factors that are found to influence students’ preferences include the existing context for language training (access to language training, use of digital resources for learning), the presence of the native language in the digital resources, the proficiency level in the intermediary language which is included in the digital education environment.