They are both level III rated languages at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language, if I rememeber correctly. I still think it's about alfabet. If Russian would be written in latin, it might be II (not that I know those levels).    EDIT: I mean that it's not just about language. The Consept of language is different between IE and FU languages. You could easily learn level that you survive as tourist but to learn it like a native needs reformation on your way of thinking.