Chelyabinsk (Челябинск)

[horns], PO down, FO > NDS, touch forehead, then chin.²

Donets'k (Донецк)

Tap chest with heel of [B], PO up.²

Kharkiv (Харьков)

[L:], PO towards, is held high and circles horizontally.² (< BOSS, because the train would stop there for the factory.)

Kiev (Киев)

[V:] taps cheek.²

Leningrad (Ленинград)

(1) (2h)[5], PO ><, DH closer to body, wg while passing each other.¹ [< soldiers marching past Lenin's tomb?] (2) [O^] touches chin, then touches NDH [B], PO up, FO away. [< Lenin's beard and the sign GRAD ("city").]²

Lvov (Львов)

[5], touches shoulder and ascends while closing to [O^] 3x.¹

Moscow (Москва)

[A] strikes palm side to cheek twice.² For a QuickTime movie of this sign, see Woordenboek Nederlands - Vlaamse Gebarentaal: Moskou.

Nizhily Novgorod, formerly Kubijschev (Новгород)

[5], PO > NDS, touches temple and wiggles fingers.²

Odessa (Одесса)

Index finger flicks against thumb at NDS shoulder.²

Petropavlosk-Kamchaskiv (Петропавловск)

[5], PO > NDS, touches NDS of chin with thumbside of index finger, then is drawn across the mouth while closing to [O^].²

St. Petersburg (Санкт-Петербурге)

(1) [5:] touches ND shoulder with FO > NDS.² [from the epaulettes on the shoulders of the czar.] (2) (2h)[B], POs > signer, FOs > opposite side, interlink thumbs and abruptly swing the FTs to point upwards while the thumbs are still linked.² (< the imperial eagle.)

Tashkent (Ташкент)

[open 8] grasps wrist of NDH and pivot DH greatly.² (< the bracelets worn by women in the region.)

Tblissi (Тбилиси)

(2h)[5], PO down, stroke chest with thumbsides.² (< big belts.)

Yekaterinburg, Gaky (Екатеринбург)

[X], PO > NDS, twists around nose while maintaining contact.² (< the suffering due to bitter winters.)

1. Signs around the world: Cities [Videotape]. Burtonsville, MD: Sign Media.
2. Arkady Belozovsky (native sign informant), personal communication, 1998.