On September 8, the Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics (MTUCI) hosted a thematic day, Languages of Digital Unity, featuring experts from the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ. The event, held to mark the Day of the Languages of the Peoples of Russia, was attended by more than 50 students, who had an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of Russia’s cultural diversity as well as the role of modern technologies in preserving its linguistic heritage.
The highlight of the event was a lecture by Alina Samokhina, Public Relations Specialist at the Coordination Center, titled “Digitalization of the Culture and Languages of the Peoples of Russia.” Particular focus was placed on the role of the internet’s technical architecture in preserving and developing linguistic diversity.
“Without reliable technical infrastructure, the digitalization of languages is impossible: as long as people cannot use their native language in an address bar or email address, part of their everyday life remains outside the digital world. Standards and protocols enable every ethnic group in Russia to maintain an online presence using its own alphabet fully, accurately, and on an equal footing with others,” Alina Samokhina emphasized.
A key achievement in recent years has been the expansion of the .РФ domain zone: in 2025, the Coordination Center added 26 Cyrillic characters from 18 official languages of the Russian republics. This has made it possible to register domain names that accurately reflect their alphabets, without artificially adapting them to a limited set of characters.
Since March 1, 2026, following the entry into force of Federal Law No. 168-FZ On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation (the Law on the Protection of the Russian Language), Russian businesses have shown growing interest in Cyrillic domain addresses. Companies are increasingly using Cyrillic for signs, public information, and domain names, thus promoting national digital sovereignty.
On August 17, 2026, Cyrillic email became fully operational within the .RU/.РФ registration system. It is already supported by major platforms such as Ozon, RG.ru, Apteka.ru, and Litres. Technical support is provided by the TEGU mail server, Ispmanager 6 control panel, and Bitrix: Site Management content management system.
A separate part of the lecture was devoted to the Coordination Center’s Поддерживаю.РФ project, which includes a catalogue of compatible software, a test email platform, and a knowledge base on relevant standards.
“More than a thousand years have passed from the creation of the first alphabet to the address bar, but the goal remains the same: to give language a form in which it can live. Today, that form is digital – and a website or email address in any language should work consistently across the entire software ecosystem,” Alina Samokhina explained. She added that there are five criteria for universal acceptance: acceptance, verification, storage, processing, and display. “The IDNA (2008) and EAI (2012) standards made Cyrillic domain names and email possible – and yet, a language truly comes alive online only when these capabilities are supported across the entire internet ecosystem,” she said.
Andrei Aleinikov, Head of Public Relations at the Coordination Center and Chairman of the Center’s Youth Council, led a thematic online quiz for the lecture participants, focusing on the additional characters permitted for registration in the .РФ domain zone. Student teams demonstrated their knowledge of the languages, cultures, and traditions of the peoples of Russia, as well as the technological capabilities available for representing them online. Following the quiz, participants received commemorative souvenirs from the Coordination Center.
In conclusion of the event, the Coordination Center presented MTUCI with a commemorative frame marking the 25th anniversary of the Coordination Center. Representatives of the Coordination Center thanked the university for its cooperation and expressed hope for further productive collaboration.
September 8 was chosen as the Day of the Languages of the Peoples of Russia for a reason: it is the birthday of the renowned Avar poet Rasul Gamzatov, whose work became a symbol of cultural dialogue between peoples. The commemorative date was established by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2025 and is being widely celebrated for the first time this year.
