I added gkb applet to a gnome panel, added Russian to the list. When I switch a layout indicator changes, but I still type in English.
Well, if i switch to one of the four (didnt test them all) russian maps i get cyrillic chars (i suppose), but not with all of em. I just don't know much about locales,keymaps,etc. so you're pretty much on your own here. I can only say that it seems to work for me.
Hold down AltGr, that gives you russian characters. Or use the plain russian map, that gives you russian characters for free. Better yet, configure XFree to switch keyboard layouts with altgr or both shift keys. Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Generic Keyboard" Driver "keyboard" Option "CoreKeyboard" Option "XkbRules" "xfree86" Option "XkbModel" "pc101" Option "XkbLayout" "ru" Option "XkbOptions" "grp:shift_toggle" EndSection shift_toggle, toggling register with two shifts. If you insert line XkbOptions "grp:toggle", than Right Alt will toggle register, if you insert XkbOptions "grp:caps_toggle", register will be togled by CapsLock. from http://people.debian.org/~nidd/CXref.html