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    • .ru

    Country-code top-level domainsDNSSEC

    Overview

    • .ru is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Russian Federation (Latin alphabet).
    • Introduced on 7 April 1994.
    • Intended for entities connected with Russia; noted as "very popular in Russia."
    • The Cyrillic internationalized country code for Russia is .рф.
    • Registry: Coordination Center for TLD RU (CC for TLD RU).
    • DNSSEC: enabled.

    History

    • 1993: An agreement known as "The order of RU top-level domain administration" set administrative/technical handover plans to RIPN (Russian Institute for Public Networks).
    • 7 April 1994: .ru introduced.
    • Late 1990s–2001: RU Top-Level Domain Coordination Group and RIPN developed registration policies and a distributed registration model with accredited registrars.
    • 2001: Distributed registration system first tested; RU Center became the first registrar (a RIPN subsidiary); Garant-Park-Telecom became a second registrar.
    • 2002: Administrative functions were transferred to the Coordination Center for TLD RU; RIPN continued to provide technical operations and DNS support.
    • 1 January 2005: RIPN stopped new direct registrations under .ru while continuing to operate certain second-level zones (.com.ru, .net.ru, .org.ru, .pp.ru).
    • 2005: The distributed registration system was implemented.
    • 4 January 2006: .ru was officially delegated to the Coordination Center for TLD RU by IANA.
    • Registration scale: sources cite multi-million registrations (examples in the input include 5,381,137 registered domains as of January 2018 and a later figure of more than 5,895,000 domains reported in the zone).
    • The market is served by numerous accredited registrars (the input cites 136 registrars) and is noted as significantly concentrated — more than two-thirds accounted for by two registrars with one owner (per the input).

    Usage and Audience

    • Typical users: entities, organizations, government bodies, and individuals connected with Russia.
    • Actual use: widespread adoption within Russia; many second-level domains and geographic/organizational subdomains are used for third-level registrations.
    • Common sectors and examples:
      • Government and public administration: .gov.ru
      • Military: .mil.ru
      • Education and research: .ac.ru, .edu.ru
      • Commercial: .com.ru, .net.ru
      • Nonprofits: .org.ru
      • Individuals: .pp.ru
      • Major cities and regions: .mos.ru, .msk.ru (Moscow), .spb.ru (Saint Petersburg), and many regional SLDs listed for federal subjects (e.g., .kazan.ru, .novosibirsk.ru, .sakhlin.ru etc.).

    Registration Rules

    • Open-use ccTLD: nationals and organizations from any country may register .ru domains (no nationality-based restriction reported in the input).
    • Registry and registration model:
      • Registrations are permitted directly at the second level.
      • Third-level registrations are available under numerous designated second-level domains (organization-type and geographic SLDs).
      • Registration is handled via accredited registrars under a distributed system (accreditation maintained by CC for TLD RU).
    • Policy guidance: applicants are recommended to avoid registering names that conflict with trademarks, names of governmental or non-profit bodies, or words that offend public interests, humanity, morality, or contain obscene or hate speech (as described in registry rules referenced in the input).
    • Character and label rules (as provided):
      • Minimum length: at least 2 characters.
      • Maximum length: no more than 63 characters per label.
      • Labels must begin and end with a letter or digit.
      • Allowed characters: letters (Roman alphabet), digits, and hyphens. No distinction is made between uppercase and lowercase letters.
      • Hyphens are not permitted simultaneously in the third and fourth positions of a label.
    • Dispute policy: listed as "None" in the input infobox (no specific dispute policy details provided there).

    SEO and Brand Impact

    • .ru is widely used within Russia and is commonly employed to indicate a Russian affiliation or presence.
    • The zone is large (multi-million registrations) and well-established since the mid-1990s, which supports recognition for businesses and organizations targeting Russian audiences.
    • Market concentration among registrars (a majority share held by a small number of registrars, per the input) is a notable structural fact about the .ru registration market.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • Cyrillic counterpart: .рф (internationalized domain for the Russian alphabet).
    • Frequently used second-level domains and examples:
      • .gov.ru — federal government
      • .mil.ru — military
      • .com.ru, .net.ru, .org.ru, .pp.ru — commercial, internet-related, noncommercial, individuals
      • City/region SLDs: .mos.ru / .msk.ru (Moscow), .spb.ru (Saint Petersburg), .kazan.ru, .novosibirsk.ru, .vladivostok.ru, etc.
    • Some SLDs are reserved for documentation/testing: .test.ru is reserved for use in examples in documentation.
    • Registry website: https://cctld.ru/en/ (Coordination Center for TLD RU).

    Operator

    Coordination Center for TLD RU

    Whois

    % IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       RU

organisation: Coordination Center for TLD RU
address:      8 Marta street 1, bld 12
address:      Moscow 127083
address:      Russian Federation (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         .RU domain Administrative group
organisation: Coordination Center for TLD RU
address:      8 Marta street 1, bld 12
address:      Moscow 127083
address:      Russian Federation (the)
phone:        +7 495 730 29 71
fax-no:       +7 495 730 29 68
e-mail:       ru-adm@cctld.ru

contact:      technical
name:         Technical Center of Internet
organisation: Technical Center of Internet
address:      8 Marta street 1, bld 12
address:      Moscow 127083
address:      Russian Federation (the)
phone:        +7 495 730 29 69
fax-no:       +7 495 730 29 68
e-mail:       ru-tech@tcinet.ru

nserver:      A.DNS.RIPN.NET 193.232.128.6 2001:678:17:0:193:232:128:6
nserver:      B.DNS.RIPN.NET 194.85.252.62 2001:678:16:0:194:85:252:62
nserver:      D.DNS.RIPN.NET 194.190.124.17 2001:678:18:0:194:190:124:17
nserver:      E.DNS.RIPN.NET 193.232.142.17 2001:678:15:0:193:232:142:17
nserver:      F.DNS.RIPN.NET 193.232.156.17 2001:678:14:0:193:232:156:17
ds-rdata:     18374 8 2 8058d0c088d9b3f7f30080e2b8c9804944301722a2cce9ee66f6ac74feb2e200

whois:        whois.tcinet.ru

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.cctld.ru/en

created:      1994-04-07
changed:      2024-12-03
source:       IANA

    Registrars