The Russian (Cyrillic) Alphabet

1. Vowels
There are five vowels in Russian, four of which are spelled two ways depending on the preceding consonant;
the vowel "o"  may be spelled three ways depending on the preceding consonant and whether it is stressed or not
(* = unstressed):

After hard consonant  а     э     о*    о    у    ы
After soft consonant     я     е      е*    ё    ю    и

That is to say , after a consonant я  = ь + а  and so on.

2. Consonants
Three Russian consonants are always hard: ш   (sh)    ж  (zh)     ц    (ts)
Three Russian consonants are always soft: ч   (ch)   щ   (shch)   й   (y)

All the others can be hard or soft (English equivalents in brackets):

к ( k )    г ( g )    х ( kh )     т ( t )    д   ( d ) с   ( s )   з ( z )   п ( p )   б ( b )   ф ( f )   в ( v )   л ( l )   р ( r )  
м ( m )   н ( n )
 

3.  The Spelling of "yod"  (й)
At the beginning of a word, after a vowel, or after a soft consonant (marked by the soft sign ь) the sound  yod 
(like the "y" in boy or yacht) is combined with the following vowel as follows  (*=unstressed):

                я       е*         ё       ю      е   
                   =
               йа      йо*       йо     йу     йэ

Examples :             моя      =     мой-а        моё   =    мой-о                 семья    = семьй-а
                            здание   =   зданий-о          Ялта     =   Йалта          Ельцин   = Йэльцин