Answer in brief
As of 18 October 2026 Russia has a single non-working holiday in November: Wednesday 4 November, National Unity Day. Decree No. 1466 of 24 September 2025 moves no days into November, so there is no long weekend, and Tuesday 3 November is one hour shorter under article 95 of the Labour Code. November has 20 working days and 159 hours on a 40-hour week; Tatarstan also rests on Friday 6 November.
One day off on Wednesday 4 November 2026
The November 2026 holidays in Russia come down to one day: Wednesday 4 November, National Unity Day, is a non-working holiday for the whole country. There is no long weekend, because the government’s decree on moving days off in 2026 does not touch November. Tuesday 3 November is a working day shortened by one hour. Everything below is stated as of 18 October 2026.
The government’s announcement of 24 September 2025 lists the year’s days of rest, and November takes one line in it: 4 November. On a five-day week, Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 November are working days, the Tuesday an hour shorter, Wednesday is free, and Thursday 5 and Friday 6 November are working days again. The 2026 production calendar in the ConsultantPlus legal database shows the same, with an asterisk marking 3 November as a pre-holiday day.
Article 112 and decree No. 1466 behind the November date
The list of national non-working holidays is in article 112 of the Labour Code, and it ends with the line 4 November, National Unity Day. Wikipedia’s article on Unity Day says the modern holiday was reinstituted in 2005. The day marks the popular uprising that ended the Polish-Lithuanian occupation of Moscow in November 1612.
The same article moves a weekend day that coincides with a holiday to the next working day, except in January, and requires a government act moving days off for the next year to be published at least a month before that year begins. The act for 2026 is decree No. 1466 of 24 September 2025, signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin: Saturday 3 January moves to Friday 9 January, and Sunday 4 January to Thursday 31 December. The third rule is article 95: the day or shift directly before a non-working holiday is one hour shorter, which is why 3 November is shortened and 5 November is not.
November 2026 in working days and working hours
According to the ConsultantPlus production calendar for 2026, November has 30 calendar days: 20 working days and 10 weekends and holidays. The norm is 159 hours on a 40-hour week, 143 hours on a 36-hour week and 95 hours on a 24-hour week. The calendar’s commentary cites order No. 588n of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of 13 August 2009, under which the norm is counted on a five-day week at 8, 7.2 or 4.8 hours a day. Twenty days of 8 hours give 160 hours, minus one for the short 3 November.
For the fourth quarter the same calendar gives 64 working days and 511 hours on a 40-hour week, with 22 working days in October and 22 in December. The whole of 2026 has 247 working days, four of them shortened, and 1,972 hours on a 40-hour week. Regional calendars can differ, as the section on Tatarstan shows.
Stretching 4 November with annual leave: the arithmetic
Two days of leave can stretch a midweek holiday, and the Labour Code gives rules for counting, not advice. Article 120 says annual paid leave is counted in calendar days and that non-working holidays falling within it are not counted as leave days. Article 125 lets leave be split into parts by agreement with the employer, provided one part is at least 14 calendar days.
With those rules the variants are easy to count. Leave on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 November costs two calendar days and gives five days in a row, from Wednesday 4 to Sunday 8 November. Leave on Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 November also costs two and gives five, from Saturday 31 October to Wednesday 4 November. One period of leave from 2 to 6 November covers five calendar days, but 4 November is not counted, so it uses four days of leave and gives nine days off.
One detail changes the count. Article 120 excludes only holidays, so a Saturday or Sunday inside the leave counts as a leave day, and leave ending on a Sunday costs more than leave ending on a Friday. Dates also depend on the leave schedule and the employer’s consent, which differ between companies. Check your organisation’s rules first, and take a disputed case to a labour law specialist.
Pay and days off for working on National Unity Day
Article 113 of the Labour Code prohibits work on non-working holidays except in listed cases: work that cannot stop for production and technical reasons, serving the public, urgent repair, loading and unloading. Otherwise the employer needs the employee’s written consent and a written order.
Article 153 sets the pay at no less than double: double piece rates, or double daily or hourly rates. Salaried staff get at least a single daily or hourly rate on top of the salary within the monthly norm, and a double one beyond it. The increased pay covers hours actually worked on the holiday, from 0 to 24 hours, which matters for a night shift from 3 into 4 November. An employee may instead take another day of rest: the holiday is then paid at a single rate, and under a part added to article 153 in 2024 that day can be used within a year or attached to leave.
Tatarstan’s extra day off on 6 November
Regions may add their own non-working holidays: the ConsultantPlus commentary points to article 6 of the Labour Code and to a ruling of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of 21 December 2011. In November the clearest example is Tatarstan. Its law No. 1448-XII of 19 February 1992 on holidays and memorable dates names 6 November, the Day of the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan, as a non-working holiday.
Tatarstan’s Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Protection issued its clarification on working time in 2026 on 17 October 2025, and the Garant legal portal publishes a summary. In the republic both 3 and 5 November are shortened by one hour, and since 6 November is a Friday, people on a five-day week rest from 6 to 8 November after the single day off on Wednesday. Tatarstan’s year has 244 working days instead of the federal 247, and 1,945 hours on a 40-hour week.
The regional holiday also gained a court decision this year. On 24 September 2026 the Constitutional Court adopted ruling No. 55-P on a complaint by an employee of a federally funded institution in Naberezhnye Chelny, and the official legal information portal published it on 25 September. The court held that regional non-working holidays do not depend on the employer’s source of funding: staff of organisations on the federal budget may be released from work on those days, and if called in, they are owed the Labour Code guarantees for holiday work. The court said the same reading covers similar acts of other regions.
Schools and shops around the 4 November holiday
School holidays are a separate decision. Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported on 23 September 2026 that the Ministry of Education recommended that schools working in quarters take the autumn break from 26 October to 3 November 2026, nine days in all. These are recommendations, not mandatory dates: a school may follow the federal calendar schedule or approve its own. The recommended break ends the day before the national holiday, so the first day back is best confirmed with the school.
Shops, transport and other services do not close by default. Article 113 allows work needed to serve the public on non-working holidays, which is the legal ground for staying open on 4 November. Each organisation announces its own holiday hours, so a bank branch, a clinic or a public service centre may differ from the supermarket next door.
December 2026 and the 2027 calendar after November
The next change comes at the end of the year. According to ConsultantPlus, December 2026 has 22 working days and 176 hours on a 40-hour week. Thursday 31 December 2026 is a day off, because decree No. 1466 moved Sunday 4 January to it, and for the same reason Wednesday 30 December is a full working day without the shortened hour, the last working day of the year on a five-day week.
Decree No. 1187 of 17 September 2026, which approved the 2027 calendar, moves Saturday 2 January 2027 to Friday 5 November 2027, so the ConsultantPlus calendar for 2027 shows rest from 4 to 7 November next year. This year’s November is effectively settled: article 112 requires a government act moving a day off within the year to be published at least two months before the new day off, and as of 18 October 2026 the calendar still shows a single November holiday. What remains open is local: regions can adjust their own calendars, and employers will approve duty rosters for 4 November.
Practical checklist
- Mark Tuesday 3 November as a short day and Wednesday 4 November as a day off in your calendar.
- If you plan leave around the holiday, count calendar days and remember that 4 November is not included.
- If you are rostered on 4 November, choose in writing between increased pay and another day of rest.
- In Tatarstan, add Friday 6 November as a day off and Thursday 5 November as a shortened day.
- Ask your school for its own calendar schedule to learn the first day after the autumn break.
Questions and answers
Is 3 November 2026 a day off in Russia?
No. Tuesday 3 November 2026 is a working day, but it comes directly before the holiday, so article 95 of the Labour Code makes it one hour shorter. On a 40-hour five-day week that means a seven-hour day, and only Wednesday 4 November is free.
Will Russia get a long weekend for Unity Day in 2026?
Not at the federal level. The decree on moving days off in 2026 covers only two January weekend days, so 4 November stays a lone Wednesday off. In Tatarstan people rest again from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 November because of the republic’s Constitution Day.
How many working days and hours does November 2026 have?
The ConsultantPlus production calendar gives 20 working days and 10 days off. The working-time norm is 159 hours on a 40-hour week, 143 hours on a 36-hour week and 95 hours on a 24-hour week.
How is work on 4 November 2026 paid in Russia?
At no less than double rate under article 153 of the Labour Code; salaried staff working within the monthly norm get at least one extra daily or hourly rate on top of the salary. An employee may choose another day of rest instead, and then the holiday is paid at a single rate.
Is 31 December 2026 a day off in Russia?
Yes. Thursday 31 December 2026 is free across the country: decree No. 1466 moved Sunday 4 January 2026 onto it. Because of that move, ConsultantPlus notes, Wednesday 30 December 2026 is worked in full, without the pre-holiday hour.