The Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ has reported the annual results for the Russian national top level domains .RU and .РФ.
In 2024, the .RU zone saw significant growth, increasing by 380,151 domains, which is a 7 percent rise. By the end of December, it reached an all-time high of 5,819,288 domains, the biggest number recorded in its 30-year history.
Eighty-five percent of these domains were registered by Russian citizens and organizations, indicating a robust domestic demand for .RU domains. Throughout the year, 1,722,064 new domains were registered in the .RU zone, surpassing the 2023 total of 1,709,718 new domains. The .RU domain maintains its 5th place in the global ranking of ccTLDs, underscoring its significant position on the web.
The Cyrillic top level domain .РФ had 760,162 domains by late December 2024, indicating a decrease of 8,721 domains (1.1 percent) compared to the previous year. Of those, 92 percent were registered by Russian citizens and organizations, reflecting a sustained interest in Cyrillic domain names.
Last year, a total of 182,351 new domains were registered in the .РФ zone. Despite the overall decline in registrations, .РФ remains the largest Cyrillic zone globally as well as a top IDN ccTLD.
The year 2024 was also significant for Runet security. Amid increasing cyberattacks and internet threats, Russian national domains demonstrated resilience, ensuring the stable operation of Russian websites. Notably, the trend of phishing growth was reversed, significantly improving security within the .RU and .РФ ccTLDs.
In 2024, competent agencies submitted 55,656 requests to registrars to suspend malicious domain delegations, a mere 1.2 percent increase from the 2023 total of 54,977. By comparison, 2023 saw a 236 percent increase in such appeals over the same period, from 16,324 to 54,977. As in the previous year, the majority of appeals (82.6 percent) concerned phishing. Following these reviews, 53,930 malicious domains were blocked in Runet last year.
Additionally, response time was significantly improved, with the average duration between complaint submissions to domain blocking falling from 21.5 hours in 2023 to 13.5 hours in 2024.
Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, noted that last year the .RU and .РФ zones upheld their status as stable country top level domains and safe environments for users.
“The .RU zone demonstrated a strong growth due to the expansion of e-commerce and online business, alongside the efficient functioning of the domain management system. We successfully reversed the phishing growth trend, nearly halving the threat response time. These accomplishments result from the coordinated efforts of competent agencies and registrars, as well as enhancements in the monitoring system. This year, we will continue working to ensure that national domains remain reliable platforms for business development and user protection,” he added.
