diff --git a/oslo_versionedobjects/base.py b/oslo_versionedobjects/base.py
index d07ba948d17fc4bc771697a854d878a1ef39f87f..72af90a1e91a18992393c93c600d9bd9507c0a8d 100644
--- a/oslo_versionedobjects/base.py
+++ b/oslo_versionedobjects/base.py
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ class VersionedObject(object):
                                   field.stringify(getattr(self, name)) or
                                   '<?>'))
                       for name, field in sorted(self.fields.items())]))
-        if not six.PY3:
+        if six.PY2:
             repr_str = encodeutils.safe_encode(repr_str, incoming='utf-8')
         return repr_str
 
diff --git a/oslo_versionedobjects/tests/test_objects.py b/oslo_versionedobjects/tests/test_objects.py
index edd0083b2af7399e4ee6a78c4124df27d7e9973b..30a11680d8561dbdc68517089f15aa3a825b0a85 100644
--- a/oslo_versionedobjects/tests/test_objects.py
+++ b/oslo_versionedobjects/tests/test_objects.py
@@ -1200,6 +1200,20 @@ class _TestObject(object):
         obj2 = MySensitiveObj()
         self.assertEqual('MySensitiveObj(data=<?>)', repr(obj2))
 
+    def test_obj_repr_unicode(self):
+        obj = MyObj(bar=u'\u0191\u01A1\u01A1')
+        # verify the unicode string has been encoded as ASCII if on python 2
+        if six.PY2:
+            self.assertEqual("MyObj(bar='\xc6\x91\xc6\xa1\xc6\xa1',foo=<?>,"
+                             "missing=<?>,mutable_default=<?>,readonly=<?>,"
+                             "rel_object=<?>,rel_objects=<?>,timestamp=<?>)",
+                             repr(obj))
+        else:
+            self.assertEqual("MyObj(bar='\u0191\u01A1\u01A1',foo=<?>,"
+                             "missing=<?>,mutable_default=<?>,readonly=<?>,"
+                             "rel_object=<?>,rel_objects=<?>,timestamp=<?>)",
+                             repr(obj))
+
     def test_obj_make_obj_compatible_with_relationships(self):
         subobj = MyOwnedObject(baz=1)
         obj = MyObj(rel_object=subobj)