The dictionary “Russian Newspeak”

We are pleased to present the dictionary “Russian Newspeak” — a Russian–Finnish dictionary of new words and expressions, created as part of the project “How has the Russian language changed in the 2020s?”. The dictionary is based on a series of discussions held in Finland and on additional research examining vocabulary that has emerged or changed under the influence of war, repressive laws, migration, internet culture, and other processes shaping contemporary Russian reality.

The project was carried out through the cooperation of Initiative FoReDi ry and Suomi–Venäjä-seura, with the support of the Juhlarahasto fund. The dictionary includes 127 words and expressions that reflect key linguistic transformations of recent years. Among them are important terms such as “обнуление” (obnuleniye). While the word originally meant “to reset something to zero,” in modern Russia it has acquired two new meanings: a political one — after the 2020 constitutional amendments that allowed Vladimir Putin’s presidential terms to be reset, and a military one — used within the Russian army as a euphemism for extrajudicial killings of soldiers who refused to follow orders. Such examples illustrate how language responds to social and political dynamics and why it is an important tool for understanding ongoing developments.

📖 The dictionary is available for download:

Venäjän uuskieli Russian Newspeak.pdf

Download PDF • 889KB

If the project receives support in 2026, we plan to expand the dictionary to approximately 300 terms, add an English translation, and prepare a printed edition to distribute to universities, schools, libraries, and research institutions.

We believe that the publication of this dictionary is especially timely given the recent release in Russia of the “Explanatory Dictionary of the State Russian Language”, which provides ideologically driven interpretations of many concepts. This further increases the need for objective, research-based resources that help understand how the language is truly changing and what these changes reveal about contemporary society.