The number has not been consistent throughout its existence. Russians use an alphabet based on the Cyrillic script. The modern Russian alphabet has 33 letters: 21 consonants, ten vowels and two ...

Interestingly, only 12 letters of the Russian alphabet are used in these plates and only those that have spelling analoges in the Latin alphabet, ... Numbers of non-Russian territories.

The Wall Street Journal has a long, charming article on the ups and downs of a Russian letter that is fading from the vernacular. The Cyrillic-alphabet letter, ë, is pronounced "yo." Apparently ...