Telegrams are a useful and reliable mechanism for 
   communications.  Note that the Russian communications system 
   differentiates among telegraph, teletype, and telex.  The Russian 
   term "TELEGRAPH" refers to a telegraphic  address using the city 
   communications center, which delivers the telegram (comparable to 
   sending a telegram via Western Union in the U.S.).  The Russian 
   term "TELETYPE" relates to the internal NIS (former Soviet Union) 
   telecommunications system which connects directly to a terminal at 
   an enterprise.  The keyboard and printer can handle only Cyrillic 
   type (or the "Cyrillic alphabet").  Finally the Russian term 
   "TELEX" means the international telex telecommunications system 
   directly to a terminal at an enterprise.  The keyboard and printer 
   are usually handle Latin characters.  Some private information 
   enterprises and most likely some city telecommunications centers 
   offer a service of providing a manual interface between the Telex 
   and Teletype or Telegraph systems.


 -- The U.S. Department of Commerce