You might try a simple Russian tutorial system like babbel or pimsleur- 20 min a day, even 10 for a few months will do wonders. Russian can be hard to learn properly - declensions, verbs of motion, genitive cases, can be hard to get right if you aren't actually using the language regularly: however, basically getting your point across is easier: you just need basic vocabulary. I used to go to Russia for business alot and I found it relatively easy to make basic points, though my overall language capability was pretty weak. You don't have to be fluent to communicate.
Funny story, though: I had a conversation with an older woman at an Orthodox church who I thought was asking me about my name. Turned out she thought I was a yogurt business baron. I understood enough to affirm my name but missed the yogurt part she attached to it.... so you can only get so far.