Russia, while maintaining its own mains connector standard, has it largely harmonised with the relevant European regulations since Soviet times. The original Soviet standard was mostly compatible with europlug (the traditional Soviet plug used straight 4 mm pins with 19 mm spacing and thus Soviet sockets were able to easily accept europlugs), and has been modified to accept 4.8 mm pins, due to the large volume of imported appliances equipped with the Schuko plug. Nowadays most sold and installed sockets in Russia are Schuko ones, though they may lack a connection to earth, especially in older buildings, as this wasn't required by the Soviet wiring regulations.