Participatory budgeting is nowadays the most widespread instrument of participatory democracy in the world. It appears in states with an established democratic system, in countries where democracy is being broken as well as in non-democratic states. Among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe it has probably developed to the biggest scale in Poland. In second place is Russia. According to the idea, participatory budgeting procedure should be based on democratic principles which include: social justice, citizen control, education, transparency and responsibility. Comparative research has indicated that participatory budgeting may be an instrument enhancing democracy, but may also be a tool used in a wider political game. This article is an attempt to answer the question of whether the participatory budgeting procedure used in selected administrative units in Russia encourages residents to engage in local problems and strengthens democracy or on the contrary it does not bring any positive effects, giving only a false sense of democracy.