Miroslav Stoch scored midway through the first half to give Slovakia a 1-0 away victory over Russia and the early initiative in Group B in qualifying for the 2012 European Championship.
Stoch capitalized on a Russian defensive mistake in the 27th minute and fired past Igor Akinfeev into the upper right corner of the net.
It was the visitors' first shot on goal in the match.
The win gives Slovakia six points after two games following an opening win over Macedonia. Russia has three points after beating Andorra in its first game.
Russia dominated the game at the Lokomotiv stadium and Igor Semshov tested Jan Mucha with a shot from the left in the third minute.
Mucha then blocked Roman Shirokov's drive from outside the box three minutes later and Alan Dzagoev's low left-footed shot from 28 meters (yards) in the 15th.
After twenty minutes of dominance, Russia reduced pressure and allowed the visitors several counter attacks.
Akinfeev's long sloppy pass to defender Vasiliy Berezutsky went to Stoch who moved closer to the edge of the box to fire home from behind the defender.
Russia had Konstantin Zyryanov's goal disallowed for offside in the 48th minute and Andrei Arshavin missed a clear chance in the 56th, shaving the right post with a low shot from five meters.
Russia coach Dick Advocaat made three substitutions to reinforce the attack as Russia pressed for an equalizer through the rest of the game, forcing Mucha to make several crucial saves.
Russia will next be on the road to Ireland while Slovakia will travel to Armenia.
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Lineups:
Russia: Igor Akinfeev, Aleksandr Anyukov, Vasiliy Berezutsky, Sergei Ignashevich (Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, 81), Yuri Zhirkov, Igor Semshov (Vladimir Bystrov, 61) , Roman Shirokov, Konstantin Zyryanov, Pavel Pogrebnyak (Roman Pavlyuchenko, 71), Andrey Arshavin, Alan Dzagoev.
Slovakia: Jan Mucha, Martin Skrtel, Radoslav Zabarnik, Miroslav Karhan (Marek Sapara, 73), Zdeno Strba, Miroslav Stoch (Mario Pecalka, 90), Filip Holosko, Tomas Hubocan, Kornel Salata, Juraj Kucka (Erik Jendrisek, 58), Marek Hamsik.
