UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode characters in position 0-4: ordinal not in range(128)

locale
LANG=ru_RU.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=
LC_CTYPE="ru_RU.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="ru_RU.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="ru_RU.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="ru_RU.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="ru_RU.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="ru_RU.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="ru_RU.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="ru_RU.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="ru_RU.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="ru_RU.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="ru_RU.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="ru_RU.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

lsb_release -a
Distributor ID:    Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 11.10
Release:    11.10
Codename:    oneiric
3.0.0-12-generic #20-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 7 14:50:42 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/orca/event_manager.py", line 238, in _dequeue
    self._processObjectEvent(event)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/orca/event_manager.py", line 499, in _processObjectEvent
    script.processObjectEvent(event)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/orca/script.py", line 397, in processObjectEvent
    self.listeners[key](event)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/orca/scripts/apps/gnome-terminal/script.py", line 269, in onTextInserted
    speech.speak(text)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/orca/speech.py", line 221, in speak
    _speak(content, acss, interrupt)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/orca/speech.py", line 196, in _speak
    _speechserver.speak(text, __resolveACSS(voice), interrupt)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/orca/speechdispatcherfactory.py", line 432, in speak
    self._speak(text, acss)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/orca/speechdispatcherfactory.py", line 344, in _speak
    self._apply_acss(acss)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/orca/speechdispatcherfactory.py", line 263, in _apply_acss
    method(value)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/orca/speechdispatcherfactory.py", line 253, in _set_family
    self._send_command(set_synthesis_voice, name)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/orca/speechdispatcherfactory.py", line 213, in _send_command
    return command(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/speechd/client.py", line 989, in set_synthesis_voice
    self._conn.send_command('SET', scope, 'SYNTHESIS_VOICE', value)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/speechd/client.py", line 322, in send_command
    cmd = ' '.join((command,) + tuple(map(str, args)))
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode characters in position 0-4: ordinal not in range(128)