.ru
 |
|
| Introduced | April 7, 1994 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | Coordination Center for TLD RU |
| Intended use | Entities connected with  Russia
|
| Actual use | Very popular in Russia |
| Registered domains | 4,260,401 (January 2013) |
| Structure | Registrations are permitted directly at the second level; third-level registrations are also possible under the rule of the official registry |
| Dispute policies | None |
| Website | Coordination Center for TLD RU |
| DNSSEC | yes |
.ru is the Latin alphabet Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Russian Federation introduced on April 7, 1994. The Russian alphabet internationalized country code is .рф.
The control of .ru is assigned to the Coordination Center for TLD RU (CC for TLD RU), the current official registry. On 1 January 2005 the former registry Russian Institute for Public Networks (RIPN) has fully stopped to provide operations for registrations directly under .ru but still carries out registry operations for the third-level domain names under .com.ru, .net.ru, .org.ru and .pp.ru.
The company RELCOM also proposes third-level registrations beneath various second-level domains such as .msk.ru (Moscow), while Macomnet Telcom proposes third-level registrations beneath .int.ru simultaneously.
The creation of .ru in April, 1994 was preceded by a historical agreement in 1993 known as “The order of RU top-level domain administration”. According to the agreement, administrative and technical support responsibilities for the national domain RU were to be handed over to the Russian Institute for Public Networks (RIPN). In 2002 the administrative functions was handed over to the Coordination Center for TLD RU (CC for TLD RU).
The national domain in Russia is developing rapidly according to self-regulatory principles. In 1993, an informal union, a RU Top-level Domain Coordination group including the leading Russian Internet providers as well as scientific and educational networks entrusted RIPN with RU domain administration.
In 1998, RIPN and RU top-level domain Coordination group established a domain registering association. Subsequently, in 2000, a new system of domain names registration in RU top-level domain was introduced. It was a distributed system of second-level domain name registration in RU top-level domain through accredited Registrars. The accredited registrars provide domain name registration and support services based on the "first come, first served" principle to the end-users so far.
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