AbstractWhile the Inner and Outer Circle varieties are recognized by all linguists and educationists, the status of any Expanding Circle English as a variety per se is still a subject of incessant discussions. This article, based on Russian English as a typical variety of the Expanding Circle, focuses on the reasons for misconceptions and inaccuracies. The author discusses the parameters for singling out varieties and their application to the Expanding Circle, highlights Kachru's definition of a performance variety, and concludes that the specifics of exonormative Englishes result in a greater variability of norms as compared with endonormative varieties. Distinctive features of an Expanding Circle variety are not unique but their set makes the variety distinctive. The difference of varieties is majorly due to diversity of cultures that underpin a variety. Therefore, legitimacy of Expanding Circle Englishes is in their ability to serve the cultures and to express linguacultural identity of their users.