This article lays out the main historical staging points of the formation of the Russian lexis; it also describes the principles used in choosing words for the Word of the Year competition, and presents an analysis of some of these words. The author bases his analysis on two aspects of the linguistic units featured in the article: the barely linguistic (such as manner of production, stylistic nuances, shades of meaning, and the linguistic means by which the formation of the new lexis occurred); and the extralinguistic (the socio-political conditions or events that led to the actualization of a preexisting lexical unit or the formation of a new one). He underlines how important it is to consider the role of socio-political conditions and events in the formation of the modern Russian lexis, and also emphasizes the need for further research into processes taking place currently.