The pair are seeded 12th and 18th respectively for the competition in Ekaterinburg, which will serve as the penultimate competition on the ITTF calendar before December's World Tour Grand Finals in Bangkok.
A host of competitors can ensure their invitations for the event in the Thai capital next month with solid performances in Russia, provided they meet the qualifying criteria.
Hopefuls must have played at least five ITTF World Tour tournaments and finish in the top 16 of the standings to qualify.
Russian pair Shibaev and Skachkov will play in their fifth such competition starting on Friday while compatriots Alexey Smirnov and Grigory Vlasov have already surpassed that mark.
Seeded 24th and 25th respectively, the pair also need to reach the latter stages if they are to bolster their chances of making Bangkok - with all four currently outside the top 20.
Leading the men's seeds are Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Japan's Jun Mizutani and Portugual's Marcos Freitas.
While Mizutani is technically third on the standings for Bangkok, neither of the world's top two - Xu Xin and Fan Zhendong - are to feature in Russia and will subsequently not be eligible for Grand Finals qualification.
Ovtcharov and Freitas are well on course to make the finals and are to feature in Ekaterinburg and at the Swedish Open in Stockholm in order to meet the minimum requirement in terms of competitions.
In the women's side of the competition, Kasumi Ishikawa leads the way as top seed, with neither of last year's finalists in action this time around.
Defending champion Ding Ning is not involved and neither is 2013 runner-up Liu Shiwen.