diff --git a/lib/ansible/runner/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/runner/__init__.py
index 980254f644..db3e308e05 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/runner/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/runner/__init__.py
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ import sys
 import pipes
 import jinja2
 import subprocess
-import shlex
 import getpass
 
 import ansible.constants as C
diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
index a1880b07c4..83b80ab885 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
@@ -694,8 +694,6 @@ def parse_kv(args):
     ''' convert a string of key/value items to a dict '''
     options = {}
     if args is not None:
-        # attempting to split a unicode here does bad things
-        args = args.encode('utf-8')
         try:
             vargs = split_args(args)
         except ValueError, ve:
@@ -703,7 +701,6 @@ def parse_kv(args):
                 raise errors.AnsibleError("error parsing argument string, try quoting the entire line.")
             else:
                 raise
-        vargs = [x.decode('utf-8') for x in vargs]
         for x in vargs:
             if "=" in x:
                 k, v = x.split("=",1)
diff --git a/test/integration/unicode.yml b/test/integration/unicode.yml
index eea6293dc2..69c737a8a3 100644
--- a/test/integration/unicode.yml
+++ b/test/integration/unicode.yml
@@ -40,3 +40,4 @@
   gather_facts: true
   tasks:
     - debug: msg='Unicode is a good thing ™'
+    - debug: msg=АБВГД
diff --git a/test/units/TestUtils.py b/test/units/TestUtils.py
index be99292051..935da0ff8f 100644
--- a/test/units/TestUtils.py
+++ b/test/units/TestUtils.py
@@ -165,6 +165,8 @@ class TestUtils(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_parse_kv_basic(self):
         self.assertEqual(ansible.utils.parse_kv('a=simple b="with space" c="this=that"'),
                 {'a': 'simple', 'b': 'with space', 'c': 'this=that'})
+        self.assertEqual(ansible.utils.parse_kv('msg=АБВГД'),
+                {'msg': 'АБВГД'})
 
 
     def test_jsonify(self):