REPORT ON THE CURRENT STATUS OF
UNITED NATIONS ROMANIZATION SYSTEMS FOR GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES
Compiled by the UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems
Version 4.0, March 2016

Russian

The United Nations recommended system was approved in 1987 (V/18), based on the official system of the Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography of the former Soviet Union, also known as the GOST 1983 system (GOST 16876-71). The table was published as an annex to the resolution¹.

The system is used in the Russian Federation and increasingly in international cartographic products.

Russian uses the Cyrillic script which is alphabetic. The romanization table is unambiguous and can be applied automatically. The system is reversible, although rarely there can be ambiguities. For example, a geographical name Bajuba is reconstituted as Байуба in the Cyrillic source script, not Баюба as might be expected.

Romanization

1	А а	a
2	Б б	b
3	В в	v
4	Г г	g
5	Д д	d
6	Е е	e
7	Ё ё	ë
8	Ж ж	ž
9	З з	z
10	И и	i
11	Й й	j
12	К к	k
13	Л л	l
14	М м	m
15	Н н	n
16	О о	o
17	П п	p
18	Р р	r
19	С с	s
20	Т т	t
21	У у	u
22	Ф ф	f
23	Х х	h
24	Ц ц	c
25	Ч ч	č
26	Ш ш	š
27	Щ щ	šč
28	Ъ ъ	"
29	Ы ы	y
30	Ь ь	’
31	Э э	è
32	Ю ю	ju
33	Я я	ja

Note. Cursive forms of some characters might be formed differently: Аа Бб Вв Гг Дд Ее Ёё Жж Зз Ии Йй Кк Лл Мм Нн Оо Пп Рр Сс Тт Уу Фф Хх Цц Чч Шш Щщ Ъъ Ыы Ьь Ээ Юю Яя.

Other systems of romanization

The BGN/PCGN 1947 System provides for the romanization, as a single block, of the following characters differently from the UN system (the Cyrillic character is followed in parentheses by the romanization according to the UN system):

е (e)	e, yeA
ё (ë)	ë, yëA
ж (ž)	zh
й (j)	y
х (h)	kh
ц (c)	ts
ч (č)	ch
ш (š)	sh
щ (šč)	shch
э (è)	e
ю (ju)	yu
я (ja)	ya

• ^A Initially, after the vowel characters and after й, ъ, and ь.

The transliteration of Cyrillic characters contained in the standard ISO 9:1995 provides for the romanization, as a single block, of the following characters differently from the UN system:

щ (šč)	ŝ
ю (ju)	û
я (ja)	â

References

1. Fifth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. Montreal, 18–31 August 1987. Vol. I. Report of the Conference, pp. 40–41.