diff --git a/simple-search/v1.1/simple_search.php b/simple-search/v1.1/simple_search.php
index 439fc86..c26f22f 100644
--- a/simple-search/v1.1/simple_search.php
+++ b/simple-search/v1.1/simple_search.php
@@ -557,6 +557,14 @@ public function convert_nonascii($wordin) {
    $wordin2 = $this->clean_slp1($wordin1);
    return $wordin2;
   }
+  // 03-01-2023.  detect cyrillic (e.g. Russian)by converting to slp1
+  $wordin1 = transcoder_processString($wordin,'cyrillic','slp1');
+  if ($wordin1 != $wordin) {
+   // Assume $wordin is spelled in cyrillic
+   $wordin2 = $this->clean_slp1($wordin1);
+   return $wordin2;
+  }
+  
   // $wordin might have letters with diacritics.
   // We will lower-case the string first. Try to handle diacritics.
   $wordin0 = mb_strtolower($wordin, 'UTF-8');
diff --git a/utilities/transcoder/cyrillic_slp1.xml b/utilities/transcoder/cyrillic_slp1.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c5f56d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities/transcoder/cyrillic_slp1.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+<fsm start='INIT' inputDecoding='UTF-8' outputEncoding='UTF-8'>
+ <!-- 03-01-2023 cyrillic representation of slp1.
+  Initial reference: https://github.com/sanskrit-lexicon/COLOGNE/issues/404
+-->
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>а</in> <out>a</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>А</in> <out>A</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>и</in> <out>i</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>И</in> <out>I</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>у</in> <out>u</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>У</in> <out>U</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>ри</in> <out>f</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>Ри</in> <out>F</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>ли</in> <out>x</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>Ли</in> <out>X</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>э</in> <out>e</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>е</in> <out>e</out> <next>INIT</next></e> <!-- note -->
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>Э</in> <out>E</out> <next>INIT</next></e> <!-- note -->
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>ай</in> <out>E</out> <next>INIT</next></e> <!-- note -->
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>о</in> <out>o</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>ау</in> <out>O</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>О</in> <out>O</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>н</in> <out>M</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>х</in> <out>H</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>к</in> <out>k</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>кх</in> <out>K</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>г</in> <out>g</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>гх</in> <out>G</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>Н</in> <out>N</out> <next>INIT</next></e>  <!-- compare anusvara -->
+
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>ч</in> <out>c</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>чх</in> <out>C</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>дж</in> <out>j</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>джх</in> <out>J</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>нь</in> <out>Y</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>т</in> <out>w</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>тх</in> <out>W</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>д</in> <out>q</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>дх</in> <out>Q</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>н</in> <out>R</out> <next>INIT</next></e>   <!-- compare anusvara -->
+
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>т</in> <out>t</out> <next>INIT</next></e>  <!-- all same as palatal! -->
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>тх</in> <out>T</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>д</in> <out>d</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>дх</in> <out>D</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>н</in> <out>n</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>п</in> <out>p</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>пх</in> <out>P</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>б</in> <out>b</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>бх</in> <out>B</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>м</in> <out>m</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>й</in> <out>y</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>р</in> <out>r</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>л</in> <out>l</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<!--
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in></in> <out>L</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in></in> <out>|</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+-->
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>в</in> <out>v</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>ш</in> <out>S</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>ш</in> <out>z</out> <next>INIT</next></e>  <!-- note -->
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>с</in> <out>s</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+<e> <s>INIT</s> <in>х</in> <out>h</out> <next>INIT</next></e>
+
+</fsm>