There appear to be several distinct periods in the history of Russian radios. I have arbitrarily made these groupings. The main emphasis of this article will be those radios from 1973 onward. My general criteria for putting a radio in a category was what it was designed for or best suited for. Pre WW II radios are rare items no matter what the country of origin was.
Russian sets are no exception.
The few that survive are in Russian museums. The only set that has been available to collectors was a set known as the 6 PK set. This was a tactical back pack radio that came in two back packs. The radio operator carried the pack with the batteries and the assistant carried the radio pack. These sets were used in the early stages of WW II, were captured by the Finnish and taken to Sweden in hopes the Swedes could manufacture a similar type of set for the Finns.