A new executive order from Vladimir Putin affirms the foundations of Russia’s state language policy, pledging to “preserve, develop, and support” the Russian language, the state languages of Russia’s republics, and other languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation, as well as promote the Russian language worldwide. The presidential decree states that “despite the Russian Federation’s unique ethnocultural diversity, it is precisely the Russian language that largely defines the national civic identity,” while all languages of Russia’s peoples “enjoy state support,” and all citizens are guaranteed “the right to use their native language.”

“Russia successfully counters efforts to limit the use of the Russian language, to ‘cancel’ Russian culture, ‘including Russian literature,’ to discriminate against Russian media outlets, and to impose ideological frameworks that contradict traditional Russian spiritual and moral values,” the policy document states.

The executive order identifies several threats, including the “unwarranted use in official settings of foreign words that have common Russian equivalents,” and of “foreign words not found in standard dictionaries.” It also points to “attempts by some foreign countries to limit (or reduce) the sphere of Russian language use.” The policy objectives include “reducing the use of foreign words that have common Russian equivalents” and “ensuring the use of the Cyrillic script in public spaces, as required by law.”

In late June 2025, Vladimir Putin signed a law introducing new language policies, set to take effect on March 1, 2026. In its earlier stages, the legislation was expected to require businesses to use Russian (and Russia’s other state languages) on signs, information boards, storefronts, posters, and announcements about sales and discounts, as well as operating hours. The use of foreign languages (primarily English) would be permitted only as a supplement, alongside identical advertising in Russian. However, after criticism from businesses and government officials, lawmakers amended the bill to permit the use of foreign words if they lack common equivalents in Russian. The final version of the law also dropped a provision that would have banned the use of anglicisms in advertising and Latin script on signs.