This article introduces Russia's international development assistance to global education, specifically the Russia Education Aid for Development (READ) programme. This study utilises analysis of literature and reports based on the READ programme’s background, structure, stakeholders and procedure. The objective of this research is to illustrate READ's key characteristics that helped it to succeed and lessons they have learned. Results show that READ is a well-planned, triangular cooperation programme requiring further study due to its applicability to other emerging donors. Moreover, this study sees a need for more research in education development assistance of not only Russia, but also other emerging donors.