Russky Letters Only!

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.