Thanks for the tip about the "musical" appoach!
I am not very musical but I think I'll have to try every possible approach to see which one works.

Could it be as simple as just ploughing throw book after book of exercises until it just goes in by itself?
Luckily I have no exam or particular time pressure, but on the other hand it's taken a lot longer to get to a basic beginner level than I had ever imagined... And I'd like to be able to have a proper conversation in Russian this side of the millenium...