June 24, 2025

Russky Letters Only!


Russky Letters Only!
Outta here: a bilingual Russian-English exit sign. Georg Pik, Wikimedia Commons.

On June 17, the State Duma approved a new law banning all signs from containing letters or inscriptions in another language. According to the authors of the law, its goal is "protecting the Russian language from excessive use of borrowings in the public space."

The law requires the mandatory use of Russian language in all commercial spaces and for distribution of information to consumers. Therefore, all signs, pointers, information boards, labels, and advertising must be in Russian and Cyrillic exclusively. Yet the law allows languages of minority ethnic groups in Russia to continue to be in inscriptions alongside the federal official tongue.

For instance, Russians will no longer experience the excitement of reading "sale" on display windows. Instead, they will be greeted with signs reading "rasprodazha" ("discount").

The law also stipulates that all construction developers must use Cyrillic when writing names of new residential complexes and buildings. Head of the Duma's Committee on Culture Olga Kazakova said the rules do not apply to company names and trademarks.

Russia's attempts to remove English and the Latin script from its signs isn't new. Since 2021, the Moscow metro stopped announcing stations in English. After 2023, the Ministry of Transportation proposed to use inscriptions in Russian only for all diagrams and signs of the metro, funiculars, monorails, and cable cars.

The law will take effect on March 1, 2026. Whether or not it applies to military vehicles is yet to be seen.

You Might Also Like

Words STILL Matter
  • March 01, 2025

Words STILL Matter

Those with a careful eye will note that we have a very specific way of referring to the conflict in Ukraine: Russia’s War on Ukraine.
One for the Books
  • May 11, 2025

One for the Books

2024's Victory Day parade was a bit of a dud. 2025's more than made up for it.
With Prayers and Drones
  • April 28, 2025

With Prayers and Drones

Dozens of Orthodox military-patriotic clubs across Russia prepare children for war.
A Posthumous Conviction
  • April 30, 2025

A Posthumous Conviction

Mikhail Khachaturian, murdered by his daughters, was posthumously convicted of sexual violence.
Finn-ancial Crisis?
  • April 14, 2025

Finn-ancial Crisis?

The Finnish parliament has passed a law forbidding Russians from owning real estate in the country.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals
[INVALID]
[INVALID]

Some of our Books

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955