This summer the WT is releasing their New World Translation – Greek Scriptures in Russian. I have known this for a while but obtained a copy only today. Since there is no full NWT in Russian yet, the Old Testament is taken from traditional Russian Synodal Version in one volume with New Testament in the NWT rendering.
The first impression is that this is quite a fresh translation as compared with the most widely used Russian version that uses archaic words and expressions and that is perhaps stylistically similar to English King James Version.
Jehovah is used 237 instances, as in the English variant of NWT. However, while the appendix to my English copy of NWT says that out of 237 times of inserting Jehovah into Christian Scriptures 'there is only one instance where we have no agreement from the Hebrew versions', the Russian Appendix says all 237 instances have support from Hebrew translations. (This what is supposedly called 'support' doesn’t really make sense to me since the Hebrew translations are just that – translations from the Greek, where the manuscript reads either Lord or God. Anyway, anybody knows what was the additional Hebrew translation that reads Jehovah in 1 Co 7:17? – the text that had no 'support' at the time of making the English NWT?). The appendix justifying insertion (called 'restoring') of the Tetragrammaton is taken from the Kingdom Interlinear Translation and is more comprehensive than in the English NWT. Howard is quoted extensively.
Another feature is that the added words that appear in my copy of English NWT in square brackets are not bracketed in the Russian edition. Thus texts like Acts 20:28 or Colossians 1:16 do not indicate if any of the words were added by the translators.
As of now, NWT is becoming the primary translations to be used at the meetings here in Russia. The new brochure also released at the Convention quotes it 'unless otherwise indicated'.
I'm cross-posting this on the News and Events forum.