Telephone Numbers In Russia

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.

After the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, 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.Crimea switches to Russian telephone codes
, Interfax-Ukraine (7 May 2015)

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, later pushed once more until 2012 and finally approved for implementation in the period of 2020–2025. 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,Russian numbering plan
(in Russian), approved on 25 April 2017 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
* Interregional TransitTelekom (MTT)
* Golden Telecom (Sovintel (GT))—not active on consumer market
* TransTelekom (TTK)—not active on consumer market
* Orange—not active on consumer market
* Comstar—only active in Moscow
* Arctel—not active on consumer market
* Synterra Media—not active on consumer market

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 range 4xx was introduced on 1 December 2005 to replace 0xx, 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.

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.

See also

*Telecommunications in Russia
*Telephone numbers in Kazakhstan

Notes

References

{{Russia topics

Russia
Telecommunications in Russia
Telephone numbers