The novel pyrimidine nucleoside, (3 ′S)-3 ′-deoxy-3 ′-fluoro-3 ′-C-ethynylcytidine (1) was synthesized from cytidine in seven steps. The key step in the synthesis was the introduction of the tertiary fluorine at the 3 ′-position. Compound 1 was evaluated in vitro against several RNA viruses.