This page contains very detailed information, including the most complete list of area codes you can find anywhere.  If you happen to find a more complete list - please let us know.  You can also find the list of cities that have been renamed after the breakdown of Soviet Union. The list is rather large, and is not arranged in alphabetical order.  So the easiest way to find the city you need, is to make a search on the page (usualy top menu "Edit | Find", or just press "Ctrl + F")

We are often asked by our American customers, why the system of area codes is so complicated in Russia and other countries of former USSR ? Why can't they just have a clear and logical system like in the US (3 digit area code plus 7 digit number) ?  Why their area codes are of variable lenght (3 to 5 digits) and the phone number lenghts also vary from 5 to 7 digits ? digits) and a long subscriber's number (7 digits).

Well, there is a reason for that, and from a certain point of view this system is even more logical than the American one.  Russia used a different approach to assigning the area codes.  Their idea is that every city or town should have a separate area code.  In fact, the term "area code" is not used in Russia, it is instead always called "city code". Now, if you start assigning a separate area code to each city, small or large, you will run out of area codes pretty fast, if they are only 3 digits.  If you make them 5 digits instead, then, combined with the subscriber's number, it will make too long of a number.  So, the idea is like this: for large cities they assign a short city code (3 digits) and a long subscriber's number (7 digits).

For a small city, they assign a long city code (5 digits), and short subscriber's number (5 digits).  Medium-sized cities may get 4 digit area code and 6 digit subsriber's numbers.  Note that country code, area code and subscriber's number combined are always 11 digits in Russia.  The logic here is, that smaller city has fewer subscribers, so only 5 digit numbers will be sufficient.  There is also logic behind having a separate city code for each city, large or small. If you are a local, you always know that if you are calling a number with the same area code - you don't have to dial the area code, and the call is local (free).

Conversly, in the US, because area codes are assigned to large areas (several cities perhaps) in less populated places, sometimes if you are calling somebody with the same area code as you, you get charged for long distance call.

On the other hand, in large cities with dense population, different parts of the city get different area codes.  Calls between some of them are considered local (free), yet some are long distance.

What does add a lot of confusion in Rusian phone system, is that they are upgrading it right now, and a lot of numbers get changed. The entire cities are being upgraded from 5 digit numbers to 6 digit numbers.  To provide backward compatibility for those old numbers who are still 1 or 2 digits short, the outside callers should add one or two "2"s or "0"s, respectively, between the area code and the number.

More on that below.

7 Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan

    Country code 7 was assigned during the years of the Soviet Union.
    With the dissolution of the USSR, most of the republics outside
    Russia (including republics in the Commonwealth of Independent
    States) began to acquire individual country codes. Many nations
    never recognized 1940 seizure of the Baltic republics, which are
    now using new country codes (see below).

    [If asterisk appears at end of line containing a 3-digit city code,
    add '22' or '2', respectively, before a 5 or 6 digit telephone number.
    Otherwise, add '00' or '0', respectively. This note was written 19
    Sept. 1990; later-arriving entries will be marked "&" if such add-on
    information is unknown.

    [31 Oct 1992: new information from OAG Travel Planner was found for
    these nations. Individual republics are listed now; any question mark
    after a republic name indicates that this is probably which country
    the code belongs to, but was not confirmed.

    [30 Apr 1993: some nations formerly in country code 7 now have service
    under new country codes. These are Lithuania (+370), Latvia (+371),
    Estonia (+372) and Moldova (+373), all in the European zone 3 (see
    that file for detailed listings of these nations).