MOSCOW, July 27, 2013 (AFP) - Opening rounds of 70 and 67 and Saturday's fine effort featuring half a dozen birdies and an eagle left the player from Northern Ireland the man to beat as he targets his fifth European Tour title.
Hoey, whose best finish this season was 25th, said: "It was one of those days where everything went my way for the most part.
"I played really well and was swinging the club well, but I got a few breaks here and there that really helped the score.
"I holed a 70 foot putt on the ninth for example - that was probably the biggest break I had out there. You just don't really expect to hole those ones so that was a bit of a bonus."
Halfway leader Rikard Karlberg of Sweden and England's Matthew Nixon are tied for second on nine under, the former picking himself up after four early dropped shots to sign for a level par 72 while Nixon carded a 68.
One shot further back are South African James Kingston and Alexandre Kaleka of France.
On his prospects of winning on Sunday Hoey said: "Obviously I have a good lead but you just can't take it for granted.
"Things went my way today but it might be someone else's day tomorrow. I am just going to go out there and try to enjoy it.
"I have been in positions to win before and finished it off and that will help a bit, but you still need to hit the shots and hole the putts."
Leading and selected third round scores in the European Tour Russian Open at the Tseleevo Golf and Polo Club on Saturday (GBR/IRL unless stated, par 72):
202 - Michael Hoey 70 67 65
207 - Matthew Nixon 69 70 68, Rikard Karlberg (SWE) 67 68 72
208 - James Kingston (RSA) 71 69 68, Alexandre Kaleka (FRA) 70 67 71
209 - Joachim B Hansen (DEN) 72 70 67, Mikko Korhonen (FIN) 69 70 70, James Morrison 68 71 70
210 - Jorge Campillo (ESP) 72 71 67, Matthew Baldwin 68 69 73, Mark Foster 69 69 72
211 - Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA) 70 71 70, Gary Lockerbie 72 70 69, Chris Paisley 72 71 68, Oscar Floren (SWE) 76 69 66
212 - Magnus A Carlsson (SWE) 71 72 69, Matteo Delpodio (ITA) 69 74 69, Simon Dyson 67 74 71, Terry Pilkadaris (AUS) 71 71 70, Liang Wen-Chong (CHN) 67 70 75, Gregory Havret (FRA) 72 70 70
213 - Scott Hend (AUS) 70 69 74, David Horsey 70 72 71, Maarten Lafeber (NED) 69 73 71
Selected:
214 - Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) 71 71 72
215 - Daniel Gaunt (AUS) 70 72 73, Michael Campbell (NZL) 70 73 72, Jake Roos (RSA) 70 71 74
216 - Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (IND) 72 72 72
217 - Haydn Porteous (RSA) 71 76 70
218 - Prom Meesawat (THA) 71 74 73
219 - Oliver Bekker (RSA) 74 71 74
220 - Tjaart Van Der Walt (RSA) 73 71 76
224 - Anirban Lahiri (IND) 78 70 76