For foreigners, it can feel very rude and disdainful to hand over money or put cash down on a table without saying anything in acknowledgement. The natural way to cover this is to say ‘thank you’ as you’re doing it - blagodaria or the more easily pronounced merci. This leads to difficulties if you’re expecting to receive change, however, as saying thank you is a signal that the transaction is now finished and you’re including the additional money as a tip. Zapoviadete is a replacement courtesy word to use instead of thank you and translates as something like ‘here you go’.
