On March 28, Yerevan hosted the regional conference Universal Acceptance Day, dedicated to the global Universal Acceptance Day 2025. This marks the second time the event has been held in Yerevan, bringing together over 80 experts from nine countries in the region. Attendees included representatives from the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, UNESCO, ICANN, the Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG), and the CIS and Eastern Europe Regional Coordination Group on Universal Acceptance. The conference was organized by the Internet Society NGO, ISOC.AM, and ICANN.
“The rapid development of the internet presents both new opportunities and challenges, affecting not only the field of information technology but also the preservation of language and cultural identity. One key solution to this issue is the expansion of domain names in national alphabets. Government agencies also have an important role to play in this process,” said Alexey Sandikov, member of Parliament of the Republic of Armenia, in his opening remarks at the conference.
In his opening speech at the conference, Igor Mkrtumyan, Chairman of the Board of the Internet Society NGO (the registry for the national domain .հայ), highlighted that the organization not only develops technical solutions for universal acceptance but also actively promotes Armenian-language content and enhances internet accessibility. By doing so, it transforms the internet into a boundless educational resource for a broader audience.
“Universal acceptance is a vast and complex initiative that can only succeed through collective effort. We rely on the coordinated collaboration of the entire internet community and broad support from diverse stakeholders to inform, educate, promote, and implement universal acceptance principles. This mission is especially crucial as we approach the next round of the New gTLD Program. With the introduction of new domain zones in both national languages and the Latin alphabet, it is essential to uphold the core principle of universal acceptance: all domain names and email addresses must be treated equally,” said Maarten Botterman, ICANN Board member and Chair of the ICANN Board Internationalized Domains and Universal Acceptance Working Group.
Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrey Vorobyev discussed the evolution of the promotion strategy for the .РФ domain and its successes over time. He also highlighted the Russian registry’s ongoing projects and initiatives aimed at advancing the national Cyrillic domain and ensuring the universal acceptance of domain names and email addresses in software.
He recalled that in the early days, a serious dialogue with the technical community was necessary to justify the need for Russian-language domains.
“Ultimately, it wasn’t so much us who convinced them, but the users themselves – the strong demand for Cyrillic domain registrations became the most compelling argument. Today, many regional companies actively use .РФ domains, as a Russian-language domain is sufficient for communicating with clients. However, the lack of fully functional Cyrillic email remains a challenge,” Andrey Vorobyev added.
“To engage with the technical community, we later launched the Поддерживаю.РФ (I Support .РФ) project. Through hackathons, training sessions, and quizzes, we highlight the importance of supporting Cyrillic domains and email in domestic software, providing guidance and educational materials. We also actively collaborate with students, young professionals, educators, and Cyrillic domain owners. Most importantly, we recognize that this challenge cannot be fully addressed without government involvement. Today, we are engaged in a constructive dialogue with officials and hope that, in the year marking the 15th anniversary of the .РФ domain, we will achieve significant progress,” he said.
Maria Kolesnikova, Chief Analyst at the Coordination Center and Chair of the Regional Coordination Group for Universal Acceptance in the CIS and Eastern Europe, discussed how the popularity of the Russian language and the availability of Russian-language content influence internet usage in Russia. She also highlighted key initiatives aimed at promoting Cyrillic domains and email addresses and shared successful strategies for implementing universal acceptance principles in software, and provided insights into the activities of the Поддерживаю.РФ project.
“Our primary focus today is on developing a software ecosystem that seamlessly supports the .РФ domain and Cyrillic email, as well as other internationalized domain names and email addresses in national languages, in compliance with existing internet standards. The opportunity to exchange experiences with colleagues, gain firsthand insights into the progress of universal acceptance implementation in different countries, and discuss technical solutions and best practices – this is the conference’s most valuable outcome,” Maria Kolesnikova concluded.
