In this article the author analyzes the results of the socio-cultural experiment (a survey among university students of CIS countries) focused on the identification of modern dominant ideas of motivation when learning Russian language in the CIS area. The research is performed within the framework of a grant provided by the Intergovernmental Foundation for Educational, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IFESCCO) ((Important motivation concepts when learning Russian language is an indispensable step to the understanding of the prestige value of gaining command of Russian language in 2019.