New Russian Callsign prefix

If you have been on the HF bands lately, you may have noticed that a number of new prefixes are in use by stations in the Russian Federation. Here is a summary of the changes recently adopted by the Russian telecommunication authorities.

• Russian prefixes with the numeral 2 are no longer limited to Kaliningradsk. Stations with RA2 and UA2-UI2 (with F and K as the first letter in the suffix) are in Kaliningradsk; otherwise, these prefixes will used in European Russia.
• Stations with the following prefixes are in European Russia: R1, RA1-RZ1 (except RI1 as noted below), R2, RB2-RZ2, R3-R7, RA3-RZ7, UA1 and UA3-UI7. Also, stations with the prefixes R8, R9, RA8-RZ9 and UA8-UI9 (with F, G, or X as the first letter in the suffix) are in European Russia.
• Except for those listed above, all stations with 8, 9 and 0 as the numeral are in Asiatic Russia.
• Russian Antarctic stations use temporary call signs in the series RI1ANA-RI1ANZ and RI00ANT to RI99ANT.
• Franz Jozef Land stations use temporary call signs RI1F, RI1FJ and RI1FJA-RI1FJZ.
• Malyj Visotskij island stations use temporary call signs RI1M, RI1MV and RI1MVA-RI1MVZ.