diff --git a/CHANGELOG.txt b/CHANGELOG.txt
index 305e09373..6d843a628 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.txt
+++ b/CHANGELOG.txt
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ Changelog
  * Fix: `pageurl` and `slugurl` tags no longer fail when `request.site` is `None` (Samir Shah)
  * Fix: Output form media on add/edit image forms with custom models (Matt Westcott)
  * Fix: Layout for the clear checkbox in default FileField widget (Mikalai Radchuk)
+ * Fix: Remove ASCII conversion from Postgres search backend, to support stemming in non-Latin alphabets (Pavel Denisov)
 
 
 2.6.1 (05.08.2019)
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTORS.rst b/CONTRIBUTORS.rst
index 407cb9b6c..16adf7407 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTORS.rst
+++ b/CONTRIBUTORS.rst
@@ -389,6 +389,7 @@ Contributors
 * Jonathan Liuti
 * Rahmi Pruitt
 * Sanyam Khurana
+* Pavel Denisov
 
 Translators
 ===========
diff --git a/docs/releases/2.7.rst b/docs/releases/2.7.rst
index fe464f5fb..5c4ff1a83 100644
--- a/docs/releases/2.7.rst
+++ b/docs/releases/2.7.rst
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ Bug fixes
  * ``pageurl`` and ``slugurl`` tags no longer fail when ``request.site`` is ``None`` (Samir Shah)
  * Output form media on add/edit image forms with custom models (Matt Westcott)
  * Fixes layout for the clear checkbox in default FileField widget (Mikalai Radchuk)
+ * Remove ASCII conversion from Postgres search backend, to support stemming in non-Latin alphabets (Pavel Denisov)
 
 
 Upgrade considerations
diff --git a/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/backend.py b/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/backend.py
index e7d13833b..8b16c4ce4 100644
--- a/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/backend.py
+++ b/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/backend.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ from .models import RawSearchQuery as PostgresRawSearchQuery
 from .models import IndexEntry
 from .utils import (
     get_content_type_pk, get_descendants_content_types_pks, get_postgresql_connections,
-    get_sql_weights, get_weight, unidecode)
+    get_sql_weights, get_weight)
 
 EMPTY_VECTOR = SearchVector(Value(''))
 
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class Index:
     def prepare_field(self, obj, field):
         if isinstance(field, SearchField):
             yield (field, get_weight(field.boost),
-                   unidecode(self.prepare_value(field.get_value(obj))))
+                   self.prepare_value(field.get_value(obj)))
         elif isinstance(field, RelatedFields):
             sub_obj = field.get_value(obj)
             if sub_obj is None:
@@ -227,16 +227,13 @@ class PostgresSearchQueryCompiler(BaseSearchQueryCompiler):
                     and field.field_name == field_lookup:
                 return self.get_search_field(sub_field_name, field.fields)
 
-    def prepare_word(self, word):
-        return unidecode(word)
-
     def build_tsquery_content(self, query, group=False):
         if isinstance(query, PlainText):
             query_formats = []
             query_params = []
             for word in query.query_string.split():
                 query_formats.append(self.TSQUERY_WORD_FORMAT)
-                query_params.append(self.prepare_word(word))
+                query_params.append(word)
             operator = self.TSQUERY_OPERATORS[query.operator]
             query_format = operator.join(query_formats)
             if group and len(query_formats) > 1:
diff --git a/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/tests/test_stemming.py b/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/tests/test_stemming.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2e3356cb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/tests/test_stemming.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+import unittest
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.db import connection
+from django.test import TestCase
+
+from wagtail.search.backends import get_search_backend
+from wagtail.tests.search import models
+
+
+class TestPostgresStemming(TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        backend_name = "wagtail.contrib.postgres_search.backend"
+        for conf in settings.WAGTAILSEARCH_BACKENDS.values():
+            if conf['BACKEND'] == backend_name:
+                break
+        else:
+            raise unittest.SkipTest("Only for %s" % backend_name)
+
+        self.backend = get_search_backend(backend_name)
+
+    def test_ru_stemming(self):
+        with connection.cursor() as cursor:
+            cursor.execute(
+                "SET default_text_search_config TO 'pg_catalog.russian'"
+            )
+
+        ru_book = models.Book.objects.create(
+            title="Голубое сало", publication_date="1999-05-01",
+            number_of_pages=352
+        )
+        self.backend.add(ru_book)
+
+        results = self.backend.search("Голубое", models.Book)
+        self.assertEqual(list(results), [ru_book])
+
+
+        results = self.backend.search("Голубая", models.Book)
+        self.assertEqual(list(results), [ru_book])
+
+        results = self.backend.search("Голубой", models.Book)
+        self.assertEqual(list(results), [ru_book])
+
+        ru_book.delete()
diff --git a/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/utils.py b/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/utils.py
index bf0f76aa8..a4b8e5702 100644
--- a/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/utils.py
+++ b/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/utils.py
@@ -5,13 +5,6 @@ from django.db import connections
 
 from wagtail.search.index import Indexed, RelatedFields, SearchField
 
-try:
-    # Only use the GPLv2 licensed unidecode if it's installed.
-    from unidecode import unidecode
-except ImportError:
-    def unidecode(value):
-        return value
-
 
 def get_postgresql_connections():
     return [connection for connection in connections.all()