On December 10-11, the 9th Forum, Language Policy in the Russian Federation, is being held in Moscow, organized by the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs. Experts from the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ are participating in the event.
The forum opened with a plenary session titled Digitalization of the Languages of the Peoples of Russia in the Context of Strengthening the Sovereignty of the Russian Federation in the Information Space. Stanislav Bedkin, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs of Russia, delivered the keynote address, emphasizing the strategic importance of preserving linguistic diversity amid digital development: “In the context of globalization and digital transformation, preserving linguistic diversity is becoming not only a cultural goal but also a strategic one, directly linked to ensuring national security and safeguarding the country’s information sovereignty.”
The main topic of discussion was the creation of a language digitalization ecosystem, involving coordinated efforts by the scientific community, IT companies, and government agencies to preserve and develop the languages of the peoples of Russia.
During the plenary session, Stanislav Bedkin announced that, starting December 10, Yandex Translate will include three additional languages of the peoples of Russia: Mansi, Abaza, and Nogai. Two of these – Mansi and Abaza – are classified as minority languages. Murat Yeseneyev, Minister of Nationalities, Mass Communications and Press of the Karachayevo-Circassian Republic, highlighted the significance of this development. He emphasized that adding these languages to Yandex Translate is a key step in providing speakers of unique cultures with access to the modern global information space. This initiative continues the ongoing project to introduce Karachay-Balkar and Kabardino-Circassian into the service.
Coordination Center Director Andrey Vorobyev spoke about the potential of the .РФ domain to support the languages of the peoples of Russia. He noted that 2025 was a landmark year for the digitalization of national languages: in August, the .РФ domain opened for registering domain names in 17 official languages of Russia, and on December 10, Ossetian was added to the list.
“In the coming years, we plan to expand the number of supported languages to 35-50. At present, extended support for Cyrillic characters is available in the .РФ domain, and we expect this functionality to gradually extend to other Cyrillic domains,” Andrey Vorobyev added.
The Coordination Center Director stressed that for national languages to be fully utilized, domains and email addresses in these languages must be properly supported across all software products, from browsers and email clients to office applications. The Coordination Center is actively working in this area, collaborating with software developers, international organizations, and experts.
“In 2025, the Strategy for the Development of the Languages of the Peoples of Russia was approved, including a dedicated section on providing these languages with essential digital technologies. To enable users to freely communicate and work online in their native languages,fonts, interfaces, keyboard layouts, educational platforms, and other elements of digital infrastructure have to be developed. This is a complex task that requires the collaboration of relevant agencies, the scientific and technical community, regional experts, and businesses. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, the House of Peoples of Russia, Yandex, and Ruwiki for their significant contributions to this area,” Andrey Vorobyev concluded.
