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    • .рф

    Country-code top-level domainsIDNDNSSEC

    Overview

    • .рф is the internationalized country code top-level domain (IDN ccTLD) for the Russian Federation, expressed in Cyrillic letters (Unicode code points U+0440 U+0444).
    • Its ASCII/Punycode representation in the DNS is xn--p1ai.
    • The TLD is intended for Internet resources with names in the Russian language using Cyrillic script and is managed by the Coordination Center for TLD RU (ccTLD RU/РФ).
    • DNSSEC: no (as indicated in the registry information).

    History

    • Early development and technical testing began in 2007 by registrar RU-Center.
    • The domain entered the ICANN IDN Fast Track process in November 2009 and passed string evaluation in January 2010.
    • .рф became operational on 13 May 2010 (implementation dates cited around 12–13 May 2010 in sources).
    • It was among the first non-Latin ccTLDs approved under the IDN Fast Track and the first Cyrillic implementation of IDNA on the public Internet.
    • Registration counts reported in sources include around 900,000 domains (2014) and 760,688 domains (May 2025).

    Usage and Audience

    • Target audience: entities, organizations and individuals connected with Russia that want domain names in Cyrillic; aimed primarily at Russian-language audiences.
    • Typical use: Cyrillic brand names, Russian-language sites, government and corporate Cyrillic addresses.
    • Examples of high-profile early/visible uses:
      • президент.рф (president) and правительство.рф (government) were among the first accessible sites.
      • Some Cyrillic domains redirect to existing .ru resources (e.g., президент.рф → kremlin.ru; яндекс.рф → yandex.ru).
    • Second-level domains are registered directly (no standardized category SLDs like .com/.org); names are generally user-defined and Cyrillic, though some second-level names include Latin characters or digits.

    Registration Rules

    • Registry: Coordination Center for TLD RU.
    • Eligibility: Registrations are open to legal entities and individuals, regardless of Russian residency.
    • Character rules and name format (summary from registry rules):
      • Names must consist of at least two characters.
      • The number of characters must translate to no more than 63 Punycode characters.
      • Names must begin and end with a letter or a digit.
      • The Russian alphabet may be used, including the letter "ё"; uppercase/lowercase are not differentiated.
      • Only letters, numbers and hyphens are permitted; the domain is intended for Cyrillic names only.
    • Second-level namespace: direct registrations (company names, trademarks, etc.) without mandatory category SLDs; third-level usage varies and "www" (Latin) is commonly used for third-level names in practice.

    SEO and Brand Impact

    • Brand positioning: .рф provides a Cyrillic-native namespace for Russian-language identity on the Web, useful for organizations wanting a Cyrillic brand presence.
    • Adoption and prevalence: sources note strong adoption among IDN ccTLDs (described as the most used internationalized ccTLD in 2014), though .ru remains larger (as of 2014 .ru had about five times as many registrations as .рф).
    • Security and confusion considerations: during ICANN/GNSO evaluation, concerns about visual confusion between Cyrillic two-character TLDs and Latin ccTLDs were discussed; the approval process considered and mitigated risks of user confusion for the applied string.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • First accessible sites: президент.рф and правительство.рф.
    • Redirect examples: президент.рф → kremlin.ru; яндекс.рф → yandex.ru.
    • Example second-level names include Cyrillic words, occasional Latin-character names (e.g., сгау.рф), and numeric second-level names (e.g., 555509.рф).
    • Related domains and context: the ASCII ccTLD .ru is the traditional ccTLD for Russia; .рф and .ru are separate name spaces and may host different resources or be linked via redirects/DNS pointers.

    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:       рф
domain-ace:   XN--P1AI

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

contact:      administrative
name:         .xn--p1ai 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:     31990 8 2 16167b01147afbc571bfe702a4e1bf2e83a44d5eaaa4c818d8b1f62fb1fdeb1a

whois:        whois.tcinet.ru

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

created:      2010-05-12
changed:      2024-12-03
source:       IANA

    Registrars