I just thought we allready explained, that in Russian, you have a difference between the official name (for administration, or in polite forms), and diminutives. If a friend is called Natalya, Russians would usually call her Natasha. For a teacher, or other formal situations, the would call her in example Natalya Sergeyevna (first name and patronime, but not the family name).
But the whole thing can get quite complicated for foreigners, as you can have several diminutives. In examle Vladimir > Volodya > Vova > Vovochka...
PS: No, I'm not French, I'm just living in Paris at the moment (but not Russian either).
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