World Number Plates

Number Plates of Russia

Continent: Europe

Capital: Moscow

Population: 143 million

Country ISO code: RU

Country OVAL code: RUS

Driving Side: Right

First license issued in 1993

Number of vehicles:
cars 9,661,000 (1992), trucks and buses 465,000 (1992)

Road information:
total: 532,393 km; paved: 358,833 km; unpaved: 173,560 km (2000)

Russian number plates have changed significantly following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Pre-1982 Soviet plates were issued as white text on a black background. The current Russian car registration format uses one letter followed by three digits and two further letters. To improve worldwide legibility, only a small selection of Cyrillic characters resembling Latin characters.