This paper discusses the role of the optional particle to in the distribution of conditionals in Russian. The main claim is that the particle to signals a higher adjunction site of the conditional clause in the clausal structure of the main clause. We cover the known contrasts involving the particle to (focus particles, ellipsis, variable binding) and argue that they follow from the main syntactic claim. Finally, we discuss our analysis in relation to a line of influential proposals regarding the position and semantics of conditional clauses (Haegeman 1984; Haegeman 2003; Haegeman & Schönenberger 2023) and suggest that the semantic distinctions proposed by that line of work have no effect on the presence/absence of the particle to, suggesting the non-universal character of their syntactic underpinnings.