16 November 2009 - the day Russian Federation officially applied for
Cyrillic domain .РФ (.RF) to ICANN. This event was preceded by two
years of collaboration between ICANN, Russian government, local
internet-society and key market players.
The great beginning...
Russian language has quite long history in DNS. First domain names in
Cyrillic appeared in 2001 - as a test prior to introduction of second-
and third-level IDNs (Internationalized domain names) they were
registered by VeriSign in .COM and .NET. For example, there was a
domain Кремль.com, analog to Latin Kremlin.com.
In 2003, after IDNs were approved by ICANN and became available in
various ccTLDs and gTLDs, the idea of Cyrillic domain names in .RU
(Russian national TLD) emerged. To 2006 it was close to realization,
but small incompleteness in the rules of registration of non-Latin
domain names in .RU caused splash of cybersquatting. The fact was that
the owners of .RU domains in Latin could pretend on graphically similar
names in Cyrillic. This mistake compelled Russian registrars and then
Coordination Center for TLD RU (registry for .RU) to declare against
non-Latin names in Russian national domain. The final decline of the
idea in the middle of 2007 was also caused by new initiative of ICANN -
introduction of IDN top-level domains.
In April 2008 just elected President Dmitry Medvedev got to know about
this possibility in near future and declared creation of national
Cyrillic TLD as a key priority for Internet development in Russia. Of
course, such words speeded up Russian government's activities in
getting the IDN TLD. In June 2008 Russia sent to ICANN official letter
of interest, which stated intentions of the country to get national
non-Latin domain as soon as possible.
Prior to this letter several polls were hold by local registrars and
Coordination center for TLD RU intended to feel Russian internet-users'
out on the idea of introduction of Cyrillic domain zone. In particular,
in such survey organized by RU-CENTER participated more than 10 000
users and about 60% of them said "yes" to Russian non-Latin top-level
domain.
But that time in Russia there were also enough people who didn't
understand the reason for creation of national IDN TLD. Due to the lack
of information about this initiative they thought this domain might
separate the country from global Web. Also they were afraid of
cybersquatting and technical problems that in their opinion might occur
after the appearance of Cyrillic symbols to DNS. Of course, most of
their arguments against top-level IDNs were incorrect. For example, the
idea that introduction of non-Latin TLD is a good chance for Russian
government to build local Internet easy to control has nothing common
with reality - web-sites in Cyrillic domain will be available from all
over the world. Of course it will be hard to access them without
Cyrillic keyboard, but in this case virtual keyboard might be easily
downloaded and installed. It's also important to mention, that all
modern browsers support non-Latin domain names, so there is no threat
they will be unavailable.
Except the discussion about expediency of creation Cyrillic TLD,
another one dispute emerged about possible designation of the domain.
The main proposal was to use a combination of symbols "РФ" (RF) for
this purpose, but some users had different opinion. They thought it
would be better to call Russian top-level IDN "РУ" - this name is full
Cyrillic analog to ccTLD RU. But such label could not be used, because
written in small letters it was graphically similar to .py, Latin
country-code domain of Paraguay. So, in case Russian .РУ had been
approved, a huge risk of cybersquatting would have appeared. Also this
designation had no chances to be chosen because it didn't suite the
rules, ICANN developed for IDN ccTLDs. First of all "РУ" didn't contain
unique Cyrillic symbols, and secondly it had no sense to local
internet-society.
In the long run "РФ" became the official name for Russian national
top-level non-Latin domain. It happened in October 2008, when Russia
filed prior application to ICANN on the issue. In that document
Coordination center for TLD RU was proposed as a registry for Cyrillic
TLD.
During 2009 this organisation prepared technical and legal base for
delegation domain .РФ (.RF) to Russia. On the 16 of November 2009 all
documents necessary for introduction Russian IDN TLD were transferred
to ICANN to be considered according to Fast Track process. The
registration process in .РФ will start even before Russian application
will be approved - on 25 November, 2009. According to plans of
Coordination Center for TLD RU Russian non-Latin top-level domain will
be delegated by IANA in the beginning of 2010.
What's next?
To prevent cybersquatting from 25 November, 2009 to 25 March, 2010
names in .РФ will be available for registration only to Russian
trademark owners. At this time domains in Cyrillic top-level IDN will
be also reserved for governmental bodies.
From 8 April, 2010 registration will be opened to everyone. It starts
with "Holland auction": the price for the domain names will be high in
the beginning, reducing step by step to the usual price. This step is
taken to provide fair distribution of most valuable domain names.
The cost of registration in .РФ will come down to standard to July 2010
and will be the same as in ccTLD .RU or even lower. For the first year
in Cyrillic TLD about 500 000 domains may be registered.
The introduction of IDN .РФ will make Internet more convenient for
Russian-speaking people, who will be able to type habital Russian words
in address bar directly in Cyrillic without necessity to remember
correct Latin transcripts of them. This opportunity will be especially
useful for people who do not know English well: addresses in Russian
make Web for them quite easy to access. It's important for Russian
authorities, who plan to provide all governmental services via Internet
in the future.
In such circumstances it's no surprise that Russia has very strong
motivation to get TLD .РФ. And today the country is as close to success
in its aspiration, as it has never been before.
The article was prepared by RU-CENTER, the Russian domain name services provider, the biggest registrar in ccTLDs RU, SU and the accredited registrar in IDN TLD .РФ.