Distance education or 'on-line' training has become especially relevant after the announcement of a pandemic due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. It became possible to complete the academic year of 2019-2020. Despite the seeming attractiveness and numerous advantages, the attitude towards distance education in Russia is ambiguous. An analytical survey conducted by the Analytical Center of 'Synergy' University demonstrated that 58.6% of the surveyed students have a positive attitude towards distance education, among the teaching staff this figure is only 42.6%. As for the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH), the following platforms have been used for distance learning of the students: Team and LMS - 2% each, ZOOM - 81%, WhatsApp -15%. The article deals with the results of the questionnaire survey and the comments of RSUH students according to the following parameters: technical equipment, psychological and physical difficulties, preferred forms of distance learning, advantages and disadvantages, perspectives.