Telephone numbers in Russia

Russia telephone numbers

Location of Russia with unrecognized territories in light green.[a]
Location
Country	Russia
Continent	Asia
Regulator	Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation
Type	Closed
NSN length	10
Typical format	(ABC) xxx-xx-xx
Numbering plan	Russian Federation National Numbering Plan (NNP)
Last updated	2016
Access codes
Country calling code	+7
International call prefix	8~xx (where "~" means "wait for the next dial tone", and xx is the international carrier selection code)
Trunk prefix	8

Telephone numbers in Russia are under a unified numbering plan with Kazakhstan, both of which share the international code +7. Historically, +7 was used as the country calling code for all of the Soviet Union. Following the Soviet break-up, all of its former republics, save for Russia and Kazakhstan, switched to new country codes. Following Abkhazia's secession from Georgia, Abkhazia switched to the Russian telephone codes +7 840 for landlines and +7 940 for mobile phones, though it still can be reached via the Georgian telephone code +995 44.^[2]

After the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014,^[b] the Republic of Crimea switched to the Russian telephone codes +7 978 for mobile phones and +7 365 for landlines, while the city of Sevastopol switched to the codes +7 978 for mobile phones and +7 869 for landlines, since 7 May 2015.^[5]

Russia uses a four-level (local, zone, country, international) open dialing plan. Local telecommunications regulators had planned to abandon this system and change to a closed dialing plan at all levels by 2009, but postponed the changeover until 2010,^[6] later pushed once more until 2012^[7] and finally approved for implementation in the period of 2020–2025.^[8] Currently, all national subscriber numbers consist of 10 digits (excluding any prefixes), with 3 digits for an area code and a 7-digit individual number which includes a zone code (up to 2 digits).

Long-distance and international prefixes[]

The international dialing prefix in Russia is "8~10"—callers dial "8", wait for a tone, and then dial "10", followed by the country code, area code, and number. The long-distance prefix is "8~". There are plans to change those prefixes to "0" for national and "00" for international dialing,^[9] to be implemented by 2020.

Placing long-distance and international calls[]

When making long-distance or international calls from a fixed line, a subscriber may choose either of two providers: Pre-Select or Hot-Choice. If a subscriber prefers Pre-Select, they call a prescribed free number (8-800-333-0990 for MTT or 8-800-100-2525 RT) and sign up initially for service. They may also sign a statement at the phone company indicating their choice of provider. With this provider, the prefixes and dialing procedures for non-local calls are the ones currently in use. The default regulation in Moscow is Hot-Choice (not available yet on all exchanges; regional operators apply their own regulation depending on availability). Available operators are:

• Rostelecom^[10]
• (MTT)^[11]
• Golden Telecom (Sovintel (GT))—not active on consumer market^[12]
• TransTelekom (TTK)—not active on consumer market^[13]
• Orange—not active on consumer market^[14]
• —only active in Moscow^[15]
• Arctel—not active on consumer market^[16]
• Synterra Media—not active on consumer market^[17]

The dialing pattern for Hot-Choice subscribers is different. After dialing "8", the subscriber waits for a tone and then dials the operator code (OC) either for a long-distance call or an international call.

Dialing pattern[]

Note: the tone signal after dialing "8" is compulsory on old analog exchanges and optional on digital exchanges.

Calls within a city or region[]

xxx-xx-xx (exception: Moscow—see below), e.g.:

• 3-45-67
• 22-33-44
• 234-56-78

Local phone numbers in Russia may be made up of five (x-xx-xx), six (xx-xx-xx), or seven (xxx-xx-xx) digits.

Moscow City has three area codes assigned: 495, 498 and 499:

• when calling from any zone to 499: 8 499 xxx-xx-xx
• when calling from any zone to 498: 8 498 xxx-xx-xx
• when calling from any zone to 495: 8 495 xxx-xx-xx

Calls between these codes are local calls and are not charged at long-distance rates.

Calls between cities/regions within Russia[]

Pre-Selected Operator: 8-tone-ABC xxx-xx-xx (where ABC is the area code)

• e.g. 8 812 234-56-78 (to St. Petersburg)

Hot-Choice Operator selection: 8-tone-OC ABC xxx-xx-xx (where OC is the Operator Code and ABC is the area code)

• e.g. 8-53 812 234-56-78 (to St. Petersburg via MTT)

International calls from Russia[]

Pre-Selected Operator: 8-tone-10 International number

• e.g. 8-10 44 20 7946-0123 (to London/UK)

Hot-Choice Operator selection: 8-tone-OC International number where OC is the Operator Code

• e.g. 8-58 44 20 7946-0123 (to London/UK via MTT)

Calls from outside Russia[]

+7 ABC xxx-xx-xx
where ABC is the area code

Area codes[]

List of area codes in Russia[]

The dialing code 495 was introduced on 1 December 2005 to replace 095, in order to make it possible to adopt the ITU convention of 0 and 00 dialing prefixes for local and international dialing respectively. The old '095' dialing code, along with 19 other Russian area codes starting with '0', expired on 31 January 2006.^[19]

Toll-free & pay-line codes[]

Special numbers (emergencies)[]

In a press conference in December 2013 Minister of Emergency Situations, Vladimir Puchkov said that the unified system runs in a full pilot mode from 2014 and will fully enter to operational mode in 2016.^[21]

See also[]

• Telecommunications in Russia
• Telephone numbers in Kazakhstan

Notes[]

References[]