This paper is focused on the changes in the food marketing chain in Russia in the first period of the transition progress. Significant market imperfections resulting from macroeconomic imbalances related to the transition period led to the emergence of new elements in the food marketing system specific to the transition period. On the one hand, it is characterized by new market-oriented actors such as household-type and/or commercial firms and, on the other hand, by the slow transformation of traditional players in the existing food marketing chain. The trading arrangements specific to Russia’s agro-food markets in transition, such as ‘barter’ and ‘give-and-take’ operations with their economic implications for the emerging market structure are discussed. Some potential implications of the recent financial crisis for Russia’s food marketing system are also mentioned.