Should I include non-English textbooks in the course? This is set up in a Russian university with English as a working language, but may apply to any university with a large share of international students.

Suppose I'm listing a set of course materials, including textbooks and educational resources, for a graduate course. Should I include textbooks in Russian / any other language that might be useful to a part of the students cohort, or should I stick to English only?

Pros of providing additional materials in Russian:


some students might benefit from them, and additional materials might make the course content clearer for these students,


Cons of providing additional materials in Russian:


students that don't know Russian might fear they are missing out some course material.
I think you can distinguish between required and optional materials

For required materials (students will be expected to read regularly, have exams on the content, solve exercises from the book, etc), I'd say they should by default be in the "working language" of the university, unless there is a clear educational reason to do otherwise (e.g. the course is studying a foreign language).  In the latter case, students should be advised before signing up for the course that knowledge of the other language is a requirement.

For optional materials, I see no problem with offering materials in a variety of languages, either for the convenience of the students, or simply because it's a good book that happens to be in another language.  Those who know the language can benefit, and those who don't still have everything they need to keep up with the course.