Russia New Year holidays 2027: eleven days off, the decree behind them and the pay rules

Eleven days off from 31 December 2026 to 10 January 2027

The question of russia new year holidays 2027 is settled, and the answer is eleven days in a row. As of 15 October 2026, employees on the standard five-day week rest from Thursday 31 December 2026 to Sunday 10 January 2027 inclusive. This is not a forecast: it follows from Government Decree No. 1187 of 17 September 2026, signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. ConsultantPlus, a Russian legal database, gives the same eleven days in the commentary to its 2027 production calendar. The first working day of the new year is Monday 11 January.

The decree is already in force. Its card in the Kontur legal database says it was published on the official internet portal of legal information on 18 September 2026 and took effect on 26 September 2026. It moves three days off within 2027, two of them linked to the January holidays. Nothing in it is a draft any more, so employers can already plan January rosters on it.

The eleven days describe the national calendar for people who work Monday to Friday with Saturday and Sunday off. Staff on shifts, in shops, in transport or in hospitals follow their own rosters, and a holiday for the country is an ordinary working day for many of them. The rules for that group sit in the Labour Code and are covered below.

What the Labour Code counts as the New Year holidays

The Labour Code is the federal law that governs employment in Russia. Its article 112 lists the national non-working holidays, and the first line names 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 January as the New Year holidays. The 7th of January has a line of its own as Christmas. It falls there because, as Wikipedia explains, the Orthodox Church keeps 25 December by the older Julian calendar, and that date lands on 7 January in the Gregorian one. Together they form eight holidays in a row at the start of every year.

The long winter break is a fairly recent habit. Wikipedia’s page on public holidays in Russia notes that until 2005 only 1 and 2 January were public holidays. In 2027 the eighth of January is a Friday, so the ordinary weekend of 9 and 10 January simply extends the block at its end.

Which days off were moved for the 2027 calendar

Normally, when a weekend coincides with a public holiday, article 112 shifts the day off to the next working day. The January holidays are the exception. For weekend days that fall between 1 and 8 January, the same article instructs the Government to move two of them to other dates in the following calendar year. That is why the January calendar is set by a separate decree every autumn rather than by a fixed formula.

In 2027 Saturday 2 January and Sunday 3 January land inside the holiday block. Decree No. 1187 moves the first one to Friday 5 November 2027 and the second one to Friday 31 December 2027. Its third line moves the day off from Saturday 20 February to Monday 22 February. None of them lengthens the coming break.

The first day of the break comes from the previous year’s decision. Decree No. 1466 of 24 September 2025, which set the 2026 calendar, moved Saturday 3 January 2026 to Friday 9 January 2026 and Sunday 4 January 2026 to Thursday 31 December 2026. ConsultantPlus lists both moves on its 2026 calendar page. New Year’s Eve 2026 is therefore a day off by transfer, and it turns eight holidays plus a weekend into eleven days.

A full working day on 30 December and a short January

Article 95 of the Labour Code cuts by one hour the working day that comes directly before a non-working holiday. Many people expect that on 30 December, but it does not apply this time. The ConsultantPlus commentary on the 2026 calendar states that 30 December 2026 will be a full working day without the shorter hours, because 31 December is a weekend day moved by decree, not a holiday. Its 2027 commentary applies the same reasoning to 30 December 2027.

January 2027 is short for anyone on a five-day week. The ConsultantPlus calendar counts 15 working days and 16 days off in the month. At a 40-hour week that gives a working-time norm of 120 hours for January, at 36 hours it is 108, and at 24 hours it is 72.

Shift workers and holiday pay under articles 113 and 153

Article 113 of the Labour Code bans work on weekends and non-working holidays, with exceptions. On holidays it allows work that cannot be stopped for production and technical reasons, work needed to serve the population, and urgent repairs or loading. Other cases need the employee’s written consent. Disabled employees and women with children under three may be asked only if their health allows it, and they must confirm in writing that they know they can refuse.

Article 153 sets the minimum pay for such days. Work on a weekend or a non-working holiday is paid at least double: double piece rates, or double the daily or hourly rate. An employee on a monthly salary gets at least a single daily or hourly rate on top of it if the work stays within the monthly norm, and at least a double one beyond that norm.

Instead of the higher pay, an employee may ask for another day of rest. The holiday work is then paid at the single rate and the extra day off is unpaid. Since an amendment of 30 September 2024 the article lets that day be used within one year or added to annual leave. Article 112 adds that a monthly salary is not cut because the month contains holidays. These are the general rules; check your own case with your employer or a labour law specialist.

School winter holidays for 2026/27 recommended by the ministry

School holidays are a separate decision from the labour calendar. Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the government’s official newspaper, reported on 23 September 2026 that the Ministry of Education had recommended winter holidays from 31 December 2026 to 10 January 2027 for schools that work in quarters. That matches the adult break day for day.

The newspaper stresses that the federal dates are recommendations, not obligations. Each school fixes the final dates in its own academic calendar, and regions and individual schools may set their own holiday schedules. According to the same article, every break must last at least seven days. Parents should check their own school’s calendar.

Shops, transport and travel bookings over the break

No federal act sets the opening hours of shops, banks or public transport for New Year. What the law does say, in article 113, is that work serving the population is allowed on non-working holidays, which is the legal ground for services that stay open in January. Each company announces its own holiday timetable, so confirm hours with the company itself.

For travel, the useful point is that school and office calendars coincide this winter. Families, pupils and employees will all be free on the same eleven days, from Thursday 31 December to Sunday 10 January. If you plan to go away, book transport and accommodation early and read the cancellation terms before you pay.

Visitors from abroad should keep two dates apart. The New Year is celebrated on the night of 31 December, while 7 January is Orthodox Christmas and sits inside the same break. Offices on a five-day week stay closed throughout the period. Paperwork that needs a working day is better handled by 30 December or after 11 January.

February 2027 dates and what is still to be announced

The next long weekend comes soon after the russia new year holidays 2027. Because of the third move in decree No. 1187, Saturday 20 February 2027 becomes a working day, and the rest runs from Sunday 21 to Tuesday 23 February, Defender of the Fatherland Day. ConsultantPlus marks 20 February as a working day shortened by one hour. Women’s Day brings three days off, from 6 to 8 March, and in May the country rests from 1 to 3 and from 8 to 10 May.

Several things are still open on 15 October 2026. Each school’s calendar, each employer’s shift roster and each company’s holiday hours will be published by those organisations themselves. The ConsultantPlus commentary also recalls that, under article 6 of the Labour Code, regions may add their own non-working holidays on top of the federal list. The calendar for 2028 is not set yet: article 112 requires the Government to publish that decree at least one month before the year begins, which means by 1 December 2027.

Enter 30 December 2026 as the last working day of the year and 11 January 2027 as the first one of the next. If you are rostered during the break, ask your employer in writing how those days will be paid or compensated under article 153. Look up the dates your child’s school has published, and book any trip with the shared dates in mind. To quote the rule exactly, read decree No. 1187 itself on the official legal portal or in a legal database.