Letters and numbers used in Russian license plates

You can find out a lot from the registration number of a car - from the region to the profession of the driver, and for this it is enough to know the basic principles of decoding by color, numbers, and series of the license plate. Most of the cars we see on the street every day have black numbers and letters on a white background, but there are also numbers on a black, blue, and even red background.

Today we will tell you about the types of car license plates to make it easier for you to read their meaning, as well as how you can get a beautiful criminal license plate.

Basic rules for compiling numbers

Combinations of modern license plates are arranged according to the principle of 3 numbers and 3 letters . The exceptions are minibus taxis, military transport, and diplomatic cars; they have their own rules and designations.

The numbers represent the vehicle number, and the letters indicate its series.

The requirements and conditions of GOST indicate that 12 letters from the Cyrillic alphabet can be used on license plates - A, B, E, K, M, N, O, P, S, T, U and X, since only they have similar letters in Latin.

Other letter designations are not acceptable . This is a special and very important restriction that was adopted and regulated by the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, adopted in 1968.

According to the main provisions of the convention, all vehicles can have numbers that consist of Arabic and Latin letters, as well as Arabic numerals.

It is allowed to use special national inscriptions, which must be duplicated in the Latin alphabet.

The letters in license plates must be readable not only in Russia, but also in other countries. This is the answer to the question why there are no letters on state license plates.

In addition to the digital and alphabetic designations on the license plate, in a special separate quadrangle in its lower part there is a Russian flag and the inscription RUS, in the upper part there is a code designation of the region of Russia in which the car was registered.

A peculiarity of all symbols present on the signs is that the letters are significantly smaller in size than the numbers.

Without exception, all license plates are registered . Each administrative region has its own individual number. It is common to all vehicles without exception that have been registered in a certain area.

The number of license plate sets of automobile registration plates that are allowed to be produced for a constituent entity of Russia is also determined by GOST. It amounts to 1,726,272 pieces.

The number of registered vehicles is increasing every year, and accordingly, license plates with permitted letter and number combinations are beginning to be in short supply.

On this basis, the regional authorities of the Russian Federation decide to introduce new codes. They are used as an addition to license plates.

Main types of registration plates

When studying the question of what letters are in car license plates and what letters are not in state license plates, it is worth considering what types of license plates currently exist, in addition to standard ones.

Regular license plates are issued to individuals who own a car. There are also special numbers that differ not only in color, but also in a special combination of letter and number designations.

Here are the most basic categories and features of compiling their registration numbers:

Route transport taxi signs . They are installed on modern public transport, taxis, that is, on public and commercial transport. These are dark yellow numbers with 2 letters and 3 black numbers. There is a region code, but no flag.
Registration plates of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia . Now they are installed on trucks, cars, trailers and motorcycles. The general format of these characters is one letter and four numbers.
Number plates of vehicles belonging to modern Russian military formations of the legal executive authorities of Russia . Signs are installed on vehicles that belong to modern troops. Designations are applied to a plate that does not reflect light. The format is 4 numbers and 2 letters. The main information about the car is assigned to the code located on the right side of the license plate - it does not coincide with standard regional codes. Having studied it, experts understand which category of military units the transport belongs to.
Registration numbers of cars that belong to diplomats and sales representatives of foreign companies . The main information on such numbers is the first three digits of the code and the letter, which is a prefix. Among the most basic combinations of such letters, we can note CD - the car of an ambassador or the head of a diplomatic official mission, CC - a car belonging to a consul or head of a consulate, D - a car belonging to a person holding a certain diplomatic status, T - a car of diplomatic consulate employees who do not have the corresponding status .

These are license plates of modern cars, different in color and structure, belonging to certain structures.

It is worth noting that modern FSB operational vehicles may have different state registration numbers. It will be impossible to describe them in more detail within the framework of this article.

Describing the main differences and structure of car license plates, it is worth studying the special letter combinations by which you can distinguish the ownership of cars.

Here are the most popular and significant letter combinations:

AAA is the Administration of the President of Russia;
AMM - police;
AMO - capital city hall;
AMP - cars of government employees;
AOO - employees of the Administration of the President of Russia;
VMR – machines owned by the government and banking institutions;
SBI - cars that belong to employees of the Presidential Affairs Department;
EKH - Federal Security Service and FSB;
EPE - cars of State Duma employees;
KKH – FSO and FSB vehicles;
KMM – fire trucks;
KMR - government auto bodies;
KOO - work and personal cars of employees of the Constitutional Court and the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation;
MMM – administration;
MMR – government, financial structures and FSB;
MOO - Administration of the President of Russia;
LLC – FSB;
RMR – Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation;
SAS - FSB and Ministry of Internal Affairs;
SMM – police authorities;
SOO - official management of the affairs of the President of the Russian Federation and employees of the Federation Council;
SSS – cars of the FSO, FSB, government employees;
TMR and UMR – government bodies;
HKH - FSB organizations and FSO employees.

License plates with such letter designations as UUU, XXX, KKK, EE, NNN are state license plates that may belong to private individuals who purchase them in a special manner.

Answering the question of how many letters are used in Russian license plates, we can note that according to the standard there should be three . In certain situations, an additional letter designation is provided.

For example, on cars exported from Russia, signs with a distinctive feature are installed. On the left side of the registration number is the letter T.

As for digital combinations, they correspond to the regions of the Russian Federation in the form of indicators from 01 to 89.

Without exception, all numbers, regardless of affiliation and category, are applied to special plates laminated on both sides with a special transparent film using the hot lamination method.

Modern license plates replaced the old license plates several years ago. They are made in such a way as to be perceived by surveillance cameras installed everywhere.

How license plates are deciphered

In addition to the above, there are license plates that are used by people and organizations close to the authorities in the Russian Federation.

These numbers often give the car an advantage on the road. FSB operational vehicles may have different state registration license plates.

Vehicles of the FSB and the Presidential Administration

One part of the signs from the XKH77 series is used by the FSB, and the other was always wanted by wealthy people on their cars, so it was sold.

Cars from the Presidential Administration use license plates from the AOO77, MOO77, BOO77 and SOO77 series.

A vehicle with a beacon indicates that a special postman from the State Service of the Russian Federation is traveling on it. These cars do not have advantages on the roads.

License plates of the State Duma, Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSIN

Series numbers AKR177, EKR177, VKR177 and KKR177 indicate belonging to those close to the authorities. Such cars used to have blue state license plates.

Members of the State Duma have numbers of the EPE177 series.

After blue license plates were introduced, the Ministry of Internal Affairs partially sold out the numbers AMP77, KMR77, VMR77, OMR77, MMP77, TMR77 and UMR77.

Only a few of them remained subordinate to this department.

РМР77 - license plates of the prosecutor's office. AMO77 series - almost completely used by the Moscow City Hall .

Deciphering thieves' license plates on cars highlights people in power and relevant government agencies.

Numbers such as NAA99, CAA99, TAA99 and XAA99 are also considered criminal numbers. Their main difference is that both employees of the FSB or a research institute, as well as a cool private trader, have these signs.

The procedure for issuing and changing license plates on cars

By describing the features of the structure and designation of license plates, we can briefly describe the procedure for issuing modern license plates.

Owners are given numbers strictly in a certain order . The exception is the issuance of special series numbers.

In each license plate issued for a vehicle, symbols are exchanged, since they are changed according to a special system.

Many people consider it quite complicated, but after studying the issuing system, the system becomes more or less understandable. In the process of registering new license plates, the following sequence of replacing numbers and letters is carried out:

The third digit changes most often, that is, after assigning a car number A688BC, the next vehicle will be assigned number A689BC.
The second most frequently replaced number is the second digit. In other words, after the number A689BC, the next number will be A690BC.
The next most frequently replaced number is the first digit of the number, that is, after the number A699BC, the driver will receive the number A700BC on the car.
After the entire three-digit number series in the numbers has been exhausted or simply, if necessary, to change the number category, the first letter is replaced. For example, after the number А688ВС the number В688ВС will be registered.
Next in frequency of change is the third letter in the license plate. After A688BC, the next car will have registration plate B688BE.
And last of all, in the process of changing the number, the second letter is used. In other words, after the number A688BC, the next car will be assigned a registered number B688CC.

A similar sequence between digital and letter indicators is used within a certain region . Such combinations are carried out until the entire numbering potential allocated for each region of the country is exhausted.

As soon as the car limit is completely exhausted, the traffic police organization begins to change the regional numbers located on the right side of any modern registration number.

After this procedure has been completely exhausted, numbers begin to be issued from the very beginning. Usually one code is issued for a specific area .

If there is a large number of registered cars in a particular region, several codes are used simultaneously.

What does color mean?

The most familiar numbers for us are numbers on a white background with black letters and numbers. We pay attention to them only if they can be called special by the combination of numbers and letters used. But colored numbers are not so common, and many people pay attention to them.

Most often you can find numbers on a yellow background, and even the most slow-witted person can understand their meaning. Such numbers are used on vehicles of private passenger transportation companies. These can be either minibuses or taxis.

The police and other structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs also have special license plates. They have white numbers and letters on a blue background. Previously, law enforcement officers had a separate format for the number MP77, the additional first letter could be A, B, K, O, M, T, and U. But the prosecutor’s office retained the same form - PMP77.

It is quite rare to see license plates on a black background on the streets of megalopolises, and quite often special equipment has them. Thanks to this, you can easily guess what structure they are assigned to. These are cars of military units of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the FSB. But the numbers in these cars do not mean a region, but a department or military district.

In Moscow, you can also often see red license plates in the central part of the city. They belong to representative offices of foreign states.

In addition to the special color, such numbers also differ in the combination of numbers and letters in them. This number begins with three digits, which are the country code. Next are one or two letters of the Latin alphabet. D - indicates that the car belongs to a diplomatic officer, CP - the car of an ambassador or consul, and T - a trade mission of a foreign state.

It is very rare to find license plates, the difference of which is the indication of the region and national flag in a yellow square. They belong to the transit category, and are used if the car is not yet registered.

Transit ones are used if, for example, the owner purchased a car outside the country, but has not yet registered it or registered it with his traffic police department. There are often cases when the owner moves for permanent residence to another region of the country. In this case, he deregisters the car and uses a transit number before registering it at a new place of registration.