.рус

.рус (.rus in Latin)^[1] is a cyrillic top-level domain intended for the Russian-speaking Internet community. It was delegated on 29 September 2014. Priority registration began on 3 September 2015. Open registration started on 24 May 2016. .pyc is one of 11 top-level domains for which issuance and reissuance of certificates were suspended due to the geopolitical situation in Ukraine. ^[2]

The .рус domain is intended for all Internet users who are speakers of the Russian language and participants in Russian culture. It is not a country-code top-level domain and is not associated with any specific state or nation. It has generic status.^[3] Only characters of the Russian alphabet, digits, and the hyphen may be used in domain names.

• In 2003, the first Cyrillic top-level domain was .ру, launched using an alternative DNS root system (i-DNS). During its existence, several thousand Russian-language domain names were registered under .ру.
• In 2008, within the IDN Fast Track program, the issue of creating a national Cyrillic domain for the Russian Federation was raised. The .ру domain did not receive support due to its visual similarity to the country-code top-level domain of Paraguay, .py.

• June 2011 – A letter proposing the delegation of a new domain intended for the global Russian-speaking community was submitted to ICANN. The initiative came from the Russian registrar Webnames.ru and the Russian Internet Center, together with the Ukrainian Network Information Center.^[4]
• April 2012 – An application for the .рус domain was submitted to ICANN as part of the New gTLD Program, which provided for the launch of numerous new top-level domains.

The idea received positive feedback from the global Russian-speaking community. Support was expressed by the Coordination Center for TLD .RU, RU-CENTER, the Foundation for Assistance for Internet Technologies and Infrastructure Development, the Ukrainian Network Information Center, the Kazakhstan Association of IT Companies, KazNIC, the Internet Society of Armenia, the administrator of Azerbaijan’s root domain, and the Russian–Canadian Business Club.

Russian ICANN-accredited registrars RU-CENTER, Centrohost, and Regtime declared their readiness to register domain names in the .рус zone.

• 17 December 2012 – A draw among applicants for new top-level domains was held in Los Angeles. The .рус application received review number 56 out of 1,917 applicants.^[5]
• Late March 2013 – The .рус application passed ICANN’s initial evaluation and was approved. The domain was selected for participation in preliminary testing of new gTLDs. Only 12 out of 1,912 applications were selected; .рус was the only Cyrillic domain chosen.
• July 2013 – ICANN expressed readiness to sign an agreement with the company “Russian Names,” which would manage the new top-level domain .рус. The agreement confirmed the absence of objections, competing applications, or recommendations from the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC).
• August 2013 – ICANN classified .рус as a “low-risk” domain with regard to name collisions.^[6]

This classification meant that the domain could be launched 120 days after signing the agreement with ICANN.

• 12 September 2013 – A preliminary launch concept for the .рус domain was presented at the TLDCON 2013 conference in Crete.
• November 2014 – ICANN published lists of blocked domain names for new gTLDs. For the .рус domain, 152 second-level domain names were blocked.
• 14 December 2013 – ICANN and the company “Russian Names” signed an agreement for the management of the Cyrillic top-level domain .РУС.^[7]
• December 2013 – January 2014 – All Russian ICANN-accredited domain registrars announced their intention to begin registration of .рус domain names.
• Early February 2014 – ICANN completed testing of the new Cyrillic domain .рус; all technical tests were successful.^[1]
• Summer 2014 – Interest in the project was expressed by the Ministry of Culture of Russia, the Russkiy Mir Foundation, the television channel REN TV, and the executive committee of the Union State.
• 29 September 2014 – The .рус domain was delegated. The administrator became the company "Russian Names".^[8]
• 2 September 2015 – A press conference announced the start of registrations in the .рус zone and presented the domain launch scheme.
• 3 September 2015 – Priority registration began. Priority rights were granted to trademark owners listed in the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH).

Registration of domain names in the .рус zone took place in several stages:

• Priority registration (Sunrise)

3 September – 6 October 2015 – Period I: TMCH trademark holders

7 October – 6 November 2015 – Period II: trademarks protected in the Russian Federation

11 November – 11 December 2015 – Period III: company names, mass media, non-profit organizations, geographical indications

14 December 2015 – 15 January 2016 – Public authorities and international, state, and public organizations (free registration)

• Premium registration (Landrush)

18 January – 11 March 2016 – Registration at higher prices via a Dutch auction

15 March – 20 May 2016 – Limited premium registration for .ru domain holders, with ownership and active website verification

• Open registration

24 May 2016 – The domain became available to all applicants on a first-come, first-served basis. More than 11,000 domains were registered during the first month. Premium domains are available at higher prices. Registrations are offered through major Russian and international ICANN-accredited registrars.

• .рф
• .ru
• Country-code top-level domain
• ICANN
• Generic top-level domain