The author argues that a componential analysis of Russian case desinences is possible and useful, and that it consequently deserves a place in the linguistic analysis of Contemporary Standard Russian. The two basic assumptions of the author's theory are: first, that the meaning of cases reflects primarily the relation of substantives to the action indicated by verbs (any relevance to syntax is secondary), and second, that all values of semantic variables (items within a paradigm) are subordinated to certain unifying principles and consequently are more or less homogeneous. Because of these two assumptions, the author maintains that the case system of Contemporary Standard Russian can be described as an orthogonal paradigm where each term is defined by one value of each dimension and all possible combinations of values are represented. The author summarized his observations on the primary semantic functions of Russian cases and includes the theories of several other linguists for comparison. A chart illustrating the author's orthogonal analysis of the Russian case system is provided. (Author/VM)