diff --git a/lib/geocoder.rb b/lib/geocoder.rb
index b9306ccd5d01aaab8380cee19264488d19438412..4eee5874584118d5bf5685572defb3ac76851fe2 100644
--- a/lib/geocoder.rb
+++ b/lib/geocoder.rb
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ module Geocoder
   # Is the given search query blank? (ie, should we not bother searching?)
   #
   def blank_query?(value)
-    !value.to_s.match(/[A-z0-9]/)
+    !!value.to_s.match(/^\s*$/)
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/test/geocoder_test.rb b/test/geocoder_test.rb
index 9649a9a8081ef6279d98ce4e64e669880b1a3fe5..5443e64a83100cd733f433b86616f178fbfbe65e 100644
--- a/test/geocoder_test.rb
+++ b/test/geocoder_test.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
 require 'test_helper'
 
 class GeocoderTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
@@ -213,8 +214,9 @@ class GeocoderTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
   def test_blank_query_detection
     assert Geocoder.send(:blank_query?, nil)
     assert Geocoder.send(:blank_query?, "")
-    assert Geocoder.send(:blank_query?, ", , (-)")
+    assert Geocoder.send(:blank_query?, "\t  ")
     assert !Geocoder.send(:blank_query?, "a")
+    assert !Geocoder.send(:blank_query?, "Москва") # no ASCII characters
   end
 
   def test_does_not_choke_on_nil_address