It depends on the destination

Do I need an apostille on my document

An apostille is not always needed, and not in the same way for every country. For one country a single stamp is enough, for another a chain of certifications, and for a third the document is accepted with no apostille and no legalisation at all, provided you know the country is on that list. What follows is set out by the three regimes, which are determined by the destination country and not by the type of document.

Checked on 21 September 2026

A Russian document that has to be produced abroad falls into one of three regimes, and which one depends on the country where it will be shown, not on what kind of document it is: a diploma, a birth certificate and a criminal record certificate all go through the same procedure for the same country.

The three regimes

Apostille

The country is party to the 1961 Hague Convention. A single stamp is affixed by the Russian authority that issued the document or is responsible for that category of documents. As at the date checked, no further certification is required for this group of countries.

Consular legalisation

The country has neither the Hague Convention nor a treaty on legal assistance with Russia. The document goes through a chain: a notary, the territorial body of the Ministry of Justice, the Consular Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the country's consulate in Moscow.

No legalisation

Russia has a treaty on legal assistance with the country, such as the Minsk Convention of 1993 for part of the CIS. The document is accepted without an apostille and without legalisation, sometimes with a translation into the local language.

How to tell which regime applies to your country

There is one reliable way: look the country up in the country table, which gives the regime, the date it took effect and any reservations. General impressions are a poor guide. Some countries whose relations with Russia look straightforward have no treaty on legal assistance at all, so an apostille is needed there. The reverse also happens: several countries in Eastern Europe are formally covered by old treaties on legal assistance yet ask for an apostille in practice. Where an apostille is not enough and full legalisation is required, as in the UAE, the order of steps differs again.

Where people go wrong

Paying the fee and queueing for an apostille on documents bound for Kazakhstan or Belarus, when under the Minsk Convention of 1993 documents from these countries are accepted without an apostille and without legalisation.
Having the apostille affixed to the original when the destination country's rules require it on the notarised translation or on a notarised copy: a stamp on the original then solves nothing and the right version has to be apostilled all over again.
Confusing consular legalisation with an apostille and submitting the document to the wrong authority: legalisation runs through the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassy, whereas an apostille is affixed by a single authority directly.
Not checking whether the regime for a country has changed in recent years: China moved to the apostille on 7 November 2023 and Canada on 11 January 2024, and as at the date checked a single apostille replaces multi-stage legalisation for both.
Assuming that because no apostille or legalisation is needed, no translation is needed either: the absence of legalisation almost never removes the requirement to translate the document into the language of the destination country.

Checked on 21 September 2026 Sources: HCCH — status table for the 1961 Convention

Work out the route for your document

The document, the region where it was issued, the destination country. The step-by-step chain with authorities, fees and timescales appears at once.

Work out the route