How to address people in Russian

Full Russian name consists of first name, patronymic and surname. Of course it's not used all the time, only in some particular situations (registration office, bank, etc.).

Almost every Russian name has its short (diminutive) version e.g. Vladimir = Vova, Ivan = Vanya, Vassily = Vasya, Mikhail = Misha, Aleksandr = Sasha etc.

Casual conversation assumes that its participants know each other quite good. Thus, they will use their short version of names only. Using of the full variants without patronymic means the conversation to be more official (like between two collegues of roughly the same age in the office; however, outside the office it is OK to switch to the short versions). Name + patronymic is always official.

The short answer is it depends. 

People who work at any state-operated structures use those forms routinely. Many but not all teachers, doctors, museum workers, and high ranked police and customs officers address each other that way. 

At the same time people who work in IT industry or trades normally just use a full form of the first name. (Aleksandr, not Sasha, and not Aleksandr Igorevich)

 

Using both name and patronymic is considered polite and official so it's just a matter of a situation.

By the way, students must always address teachers in schools and universities with name and patronymic forms.