ИСТИНА

The paper presents a data-driven analysis of the peculiarities of the Russian English use within the Instagram discourse which is a subtype of mass-media discourse. Due to the nature of Instagram discourse, Instagram Russian English as a multi-functional entity acts as a lingua franca, a business and a promotional tool, a creative means and a Russian culture transmitter simultaneously. Moreover, it is characterized by a set of specific lexical, grammatical, syntactical and pragmatical features that stem from the combination of the above-mentioned factors. However, the very ability of the Instagram Russian English to transmit Russianness (for example, through transliteration and bilingual creativity) plays the key role in distinguishing this variety from the rest of the Instagram English varieties.