This paper analyses Russian comparative morphology in terms of Nanosyntax and shows that such an analysis faces certain problems, most importantly the one posed by an adjectivising suffix which is present in the positive but not in the comparative in a certain class of adjectives, in an apparent violation of the Containment Hypothesis. In Nanosyntax, this pattern gives rise to a conflict in the structural size of the same morphemes (roots and comparative suffixes) in the positive and the comparative. It is shown that the a potential solution to this conflict that utilises the technology of pointers yields unwelcome predictions, such as admitting ABA patterns. The paper provides a sketch of an alternative analysis couched in Distributed Morphology, which does not face the same problems due to the availability of contextual allomorphy in DM.