The processes of globalization and integration taking place in the modern world set new goals and tasks for teachers of foreign languages in general and Russian as a foreign language (RFL) in particular. This situation explains the relevance of this article, as the authors consider intercultural competence as a part of communicative competence. The purposes of this study are to determine the position of intercultural competence in the system of competencies acquired by students at the preuniversity stage, to analyze the processes of adaptation of foreign students in the period of learning Russian in a foreign language environment. The main research methods are the method of observation, interviewing, analysis of the results of practical students’ activities, modeling of intercultural environment of teaching Russian at the pre-university stage. The authors conclude that daily both classroom and extracurricular teachers’ work can significantly help students to sufficiently assimilate a different culture without losing their own cultural identity, thereby developing intercultural competence.