Django makemessages command generates error: "xgettext: Non-ASCII string"

I have a simple django project. I am attempting to translate the site into Russian. Here is my settings.py file:

import os

# Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))


# Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
# See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.10/howto/deployment/checklist/

# SECURITY WARNING: keep the secret key used in production secret!
SECRET_KEY = 'n_gc#7lsv48h-b$)9aw6eer6z$zia#@da=bdwgova1=6u!8uvh'

# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
DEBUG = True

ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['*']


# Application definition

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.locale.LocaleMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
]

ROOT_URLCONF = 'omefx.urls'

TEMPLATES = [
    {
        'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
        'DIRS': [BASE_DIR+'/omefx/templates'],
        'APP_DIRS': True,
        'OPTIONS': {
            'context_processors': [
                'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                'django.template.context_processors.request',
                'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
                'django.template.context_processors.i18n',
            ],
        },
    },
]

WSGI_APPLICATION = 'omefx.wsgi.application'


# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.10/ref/settings/#databases

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
    }
}



LANGUAGES = (
    ('en', ('English')),
    ('ru', ('Russian')),
)

LOCALE_PATHS = (
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR +'/omefx/', 'locale'),
    'locale',
    # os.path.join(PROJECT_DIR, 'locale'),
)
# Password validation
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.10/ref/settings/#auth-password-validators

AUTH_PASSWORD_VALIDATORS = [
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.UserAttributeSimilarityValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.MinimumLengthValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.CommonPasswordValidator',
    },
    {
        'NAME': 'django.contrib.auth.password_validation.NumericPasswordValidator',
    },
]


# Internationalization
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.10/topics/i18n/

LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

TIME_ZONE = 'UTC'

USE_I18N = True

USE_L10N = True

USE_TZ = True


# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.10/howto/static-files/

MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'media')
MEDIA_URL = '/media/'

STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static')
STATIC_URL = '/static/'

STATICFILES_DIRS = (os.path.join(BASE_DIR+'/omefx/', 'static'), )

In my template I have a {% trans %} tag for testing:

<h2>{% trans '160+ TRADING INSTRUMENTS' %}</h2> 

When I run: python manage.py makemessages -l ru

I get the following error:

xgettext: Non-ASCII string at ./myvenv/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip/_vendor/webencodings/__init__.py:64.
          Please specify the source encoding through --from-code or through a comment
          as specified in http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0263.html.

Side Note: No apps in my project. My Locale folder path is omefx/omefx/locale as well as my templates folder.