Aim. Current study aimed to adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of Russian versions of Patient Health Questionnaires 2 and 9 (PHQ-2 and PHQ-9) used for detection of depression in general medical practice worldwide. Material and methods. Questionnaires were translated into Russian and adapted with regard to linguistic features of population. A study was performed on a sample of 193 patients (130 female, 63 male, mean age 34,6±11,4), who attended general practitioners in outpatient practice department of NRC for Preventive Medicine. Patients filled in PHQ-2 and -9 questionnaires in presence of clinical psychologist and then assessed for depression by a psychiatrist (using ICD-10 criteria). Results. The optimal measures of sensitivity and specificity corresponded to cut-off scores of 3 for PHQ-2 (66,2% and 87,4% respectively) and 10 for PHQ-9 (68,9% and 93,3% respectively). Russian questionnaires were found to success in sensitivity, specificity and their positive predictive values are comparable to similar research data reported in literature. Article discusses the principles of implementation of the studied scales for depression screening in general medical practice.