There are so many tools or Softwares which are too useful for learning the language. As you need to learn the correct pronunciation of words while learning the language then you can use those tools to listen to the correct pronunciation.
It totally depends on you that which genre you like the most according to you interest. If you are facing some problem with literature than I would suggest you take the help of a personal tutor.
I don't understand that flash card can help you to improve your vocabulary, I would suggest you read some good books and use the dictionary to understand the correct mean of new words. I'm sure it will help you a lot.
I don't know the Russian language but one of my friends knows so I just asked him about so I can answer you that it is not so complicated language. You can learn it.