Currently I am reading "Red Sand" by R. Karl Largent. I was floored yesterday when I came across the Russian word for Sugar - Sakhar. Just to double check, I googled today and here's what I found - http://travellingtwo.com/resources/centralasia/russian-shoppinglist

Of course, the pronunciation could be different but this is exactly the word that we use in Marathi for sugar - "साखर". The word in Hindi is "शक्कर" and all these seem to have come from Sanskrit "शर्करा". :-)