You see, swearing in Russia or other Russian speaking countries is on one hand a part of culture but on the other hand it is considered to be rude and impolite to swear in public. Swearing words which are called "mat" in Russian are widely used by adolescents as a form of self-assertion and rarely or never used by the representatives of higher social strata. You should better be familiar with Russian swear words as you may come across them in poetry or literary works of famous poets and writers. But please try avoiding using them yourself as it sounds unnatural and extremely rude from the mouth of a foreigner. I hope it helps.

Hello! The obscene language is commonly used among young people, for example, and some adults as well. In some microcommunities it is prohibited, in some others - it is normal. It is more about cultural level, I think. If people around you use it, you can use it as well. BUT do not use it talking to an unknown person, because it can be perceived as an offence. Yevgeniy.

It's not just 'bad words'. It's jargon, it's like a different language which uses rules of Russian. DO NOT USE them until you strongly, absolutely(!) sure what do you say!!! Depending on context, that words can express very positive or very negative emotions and attitude to smb. Just remember: it's a different language, and you need to work hard learning it to prevent a great insult!

It is acceptable around friends, but to see what friends, if they can say it, you can too. In the family of such words is prohibited. The police can be fined for "bad words".

We have "official languge" - it doesn't recomend to use "bad words" We also have many dialects of oral Russian and there are many circumstances for using some dialects. For example it bad idia for using "bad words" in the presents of lady. And it don't matter does the lady your familier friend or not.