GOST 7396 (ГОСТ 7396 in Cyrillic) is a series of Soviet and later Russian standards that specify basic dimensions and safety requirements for power plugs and sockets used in Russia and other former Soviet Republics, as well as for export to markets that use American or British plugs.
Many official standards in Eastern Europe are virtually identical to the Schuko standard. One of the protocols governing the reunification of Germany required that the DIN and VDE standards would prevail without exception, so the former East Germany had to conform to the Schuko standard. Most other Eastern European countries use the Schuko standard internally but, prior to its collapse, they exported large volumes of appliances to the Soviet Union with the Soviet standard plug installed. Because of that, many of the Russian plugs found their way into other Eastern European countries. One peculiarity of the Soviet standard is the use of an ungrounded plug with 4.0 mm diameter pins for 6 A and a corresponding socket that would not accept the 4.8 mm diameter pins of devices that could draw as much as 16 A. Another is that sockets that in other places would be supplied with 16 A may have been wired for only 10 A during the Soviet era.
The series includes the following standards:
- GOST 7396.1-89 Plugs and Socket-Outlets for Household and Similar Purposes - Basic Dimensions
- GOST 7396.2-91 Plugs and Socket-Outlets for Household and Similar Purposes - Particular Requirements for Fused Plugs - General Technical Specifications