Multiple recent reviews have compared and contrasted the Russian (post-Soviet) system of identifying and educating gifted and talented students with other systems in the world. Correspondingly, this essay only briefly outlines the main features of this system in Russia and focuses primarily on the questions identified as key by the editors of this special issue. It provides a demographic-economic, educational, and historical consideration of the system, presents its essential features, comments on the system's contribution to international science and the practice of identifying and nurturing gifted and talented students, and outlines the system's points of future possible growth.