Pronunciation of Russian names appears like it would be an easy task. However, some names require experience and Insight to pronounce them effectively.
I's are often Pronounced as the ''E'' sound. V's as F's, or a soft-roll V, meaning it starts as a V and ends with a passive F sound. This goes for some Bulgarian names as well.
C's as in surnames ending with 'evic' often sound like a K.
However, if you take the name ending with 'Vich' then you are pronouncing it the way you would expect in America.
The letter ''E'' within a name or preceding Vich would generally be pronounced as an 'eh' or 'a'. So any form of elevich would be "ay-lay-vitch".
If you take the name Ivan or Ivana you are using the I as an ''E''. So 'ee-VahnA'.
Ski's such as rutski, butski etc are pronounced as you expect. The i is a genuine 'E' so ski is ''skee''. This would go for Pole's as well as some Russians. But the word 'skay' or 'lenskay' would rather sound like 'sky' as in the world 'sly'. Wherein the ay is like saying the letter "I" in English.
The bulgarian surname Iliev is pronounced as ''eel-E'evf''
The bulgarian surname Iliev is pronounced as ''eel-E'evf''
Another larger example is the surname "milicievic'' and its many variations, pronounced as ''mel-ee'che'vik''. You almost won't the ''mel'' part representing ''mil'' as mAel as that is the correct Russian accent. The second highest priority in pronuncation is the CHE or CTCHE' sound as for the 'cie' part of milicievic.
Most of these become natural if you practice long enough some people are just naturally better at pronunciation and sounding ''right'' such as myself.
But you will find that if you ever go to Russia or any other russian-identifying and speaking nations that effective and rightly timed pronunciation is key.
