<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<style>
span:before { content: "\00AB"; }
span:after { content: "\00BB"; }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>
You should see russian quotes because xml:lang takes precedence:
<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#C_7">http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#C_7</a>
</p>
<span></span>
</body>
</html>