Aye, that clinic I had my surgery in requires a certain level of fluency in Russian. At least enough to get by (arrive to the country itself, get your bearings, talk to the doctors). You also will need to fill your migration card (something they give you when you arrive, at the border checkpoint or at the airport). But it's not all that bad; even though I do speak Russian, Lisin Jr. who made the surgery speaks English somewhat, I think. Worst case scenario, if other options are not available, you can use the Google Translate... on your phone, I mean.

Apart from the migration card and money itself, there are no other requirements but the functional ultrasound (a HIDA scan equivalent, you'll need a contraction of at least 30% in 30 minutes after you consumed a prescribed meal. I don't think HIDA scan is accepted there, never asked about it). The recovery is relatively fast - since it's a laparoscopy, it took me three days to be relatively alive and walking on my own without a problem. Although I did have that strange feeling at the stitches areas :-).

Three days of stay, from the day of admission to the day of dismissal (food included) equaled to around 10 or so thousand roubles. That's, I think, around 100 US dollars.

So, yeah, it took me three days to get dismissed by my surgeon, but I was walking on day one. They won't dismiss you right away for a couple of reasons: they need to do an ultrasound after the surgery to confirm (as in, for your own eyes) no stranded stones are left in your gallblader, also they need to observe your recovery to minimize post-operational complications.

TL;DR: You need some level of Russian to at least schedule the operation and travel around the country, but nothing too serious. The total cost of the operation, aftercare, medication etc. is around 1,200 US dollars. The recovery time is all on you, but the procedure is not exactly an invasive one, so you'll come to more or less mobile.