--- a/tests/koi8r/koi8r.sh
+++ b/tests/koi8r/koi8r.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@
 . $topdir/shared.sh
 
 initvariables $0
-
+# The question is utf-8. As recollq will use the locale to translate the cmd
+# line, need an utf-8 locale
+export LANG=uk_UA.UTF-8
 recollq 'внешнии' > $mystdout 2> $mystderr
 
 diff -w ${myname}.txt $mystdout > $mydiffs 2>&1