On April 7, 2017, the domain .RU marks its 23rd anniversary. The domain approaches its anniversary with quite impressive figures, 5,524,575 domain names, which is fifth among all national ccTLDs, behind only .CN (China), .DE (Germany), .UK (United Kingdom) and .NL (the Netherlands). The domain is the ninth largest among all top-level domains, both general and national.
In 2016, .RU grew 7.6% or 384,641 domain names. The domain crossed the 5.5-million threshold on February 25, 2017. Currently, .RU has delegated 95% domain names.
In the past year, the number of accredited registrars has substantially increased. Twelve more companies joined last year, not only from Moscow and St. Petersburg but also from other regions. The first registrar was accredited in Novosibirsk in the Urals. There are now a total of 45 accredited registrars in the market.
The number of administrative domain names has also increased. Since April 7, 2016, it has grown by almost 100,000. There are now over two million administrators (80.7% individual and 19.3% corporate).
More details about the growth and development of .RU are included in Russian Domain Space 2016, the annual report of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ.
“This year, the center of anniversary celebrations is moving to Innopolis, Russia’s youngest city. The Russian Internet Governance Forum traditionally takes place on April 7. This year, the forum is being held for the eighth time and for the first time outside Moscow. The forum focuses on involving young people in Internet governance, stimulating the development of anew digital economy, and increasing user digital literacy. The forum events will take place at Kazan Federal University, Innopolis University and several other colleges. Happily, we can see that the forum has attracted student delegations from all corners of the country. This indicates that young people are interested in Runet and the global network development. The future professionals that will be developing the digital economy have a chance to discuss the most complicated issues of internet governance with experts from international and Russian organizations. Therefore, this anniversary is not just a celebration but a very useful working event,” said Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrey Vorobyev.
