Mutual settlements between Russian domain name registrars and ICANN
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2025 5:08 am
The director of the Coordination Center for .RU/.РФ domains (CC) Andrey Vorobyov and Russian domain name registrars told ComNews correspondent about this.
ICANN does not plan to delegate the domains .ru, .su, .рф, but the CC is ready for such a turn of events
Following the start of the costa rica whatsapp resource Russian military operation in Ukraine, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), registered in the United States, announced that it does not plan to delegate the .ru, .su, .рф domains. On March 2, 2022, ICANN CEO and President Göran Marbyreportedin a letter in response to an appeal by Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov that the corporation would not comply with his request to delegate the .ru, .su and .рф domains. "The globally agreed policies do not provide for ICANN to take unilateral action to disable these domains at your request. You can understand why such a system cannot operate on the basis of requests from one territory or country concerning internal operations in another territory or country. Such a change in process would have devastating and irreversible consequences for the trust and usefulness of the global system," the letter said.
A representative of the ICANN press service told a ComNews correspondent that the corporation’s position has not changed since then.
Andrey Vorobyov noted the importance of the fact that, in the context of sanctions pressure on Russia, ICANN is taking a balanced position, declaring that the connectivity of the Internet should not be destroyed for the sake of political goals.
"We have an agreement with ICANN on the national domain zones .ru and .рф, and it is important for us to ensure the integration of national domains into the general Internet addressing system, as well as to ensure their reliable operation under any conditions," Andrey Vorobyov said in a conversation with a ComNews correspondent. "In particular, at the request of the state and Roskomnadzor, we have built a system to counter the consequences of possible shutdowns of our domain zones and can promise that the .ru and .рф domains will continue to operate in the event of any sanctions or man-made disaster. The national domain name system, even in the event of the shutdown of the .ru/.рф domains from the root of the Internet, will allow Russian users and clients of providers in friendly countries to continue to have access to sites on these domains."
Due to sanctions restrictions on settlements between Russian banks and foreign banks, most domestic domain registrars have difficulties fulfilling contractual financial obligations to ICANN. But many Russian registrars are solving this problem, and ICANN is understanding their situation and for now allows them to have debts on payment of bills.
Andrey Vorobyov said that the CC as a registry of national domains does not have a mandatory payment to ICANN, but only a voluntary contribution. "In 2022, for the first time, it was not made due to sanctions restrictions, and this problem was noted at the general meeting of the founders of the CC. ICANN is also aware of this problem, and the situation is so far being understood by them," he said.
"ICANN maintains regular contacts with its registries and registrars-managers, including in Russia. ICANN is aware of the problems that some Russian organizations are facing when transferring payments to organizations based in the United States, but so far this has not had a significant impact on ICANN's ability to collect payments," a representative of the ICANN press service told ComNews.
Russian domain name registrar Active.domains (OOO "Aktiv.Domains"), according to its CEO Ilya Krukover, was unable to resolve the problem with paying ICANN bills. "I informed Mikhail Anisimov from the Russian division of ICANN about this. He told me that ICANN does not see a problem, because all Russian registrars somehow resolve this issue. For example, RU-Center, as far as I know, pays from accounts in Russia. In 2022, we specifically opened an account with Raiffeisen Bank to pay ICANN bills. This year, it is no longer possible to pay bills through Raiffeisen Bank," Ilya Krukover told a ComNews correspondent.
ICANN does not plan to delegate the domains .ru, .su, .рф, but the CC is ready for such a turn of events
Following the start of the costa rica whatsapp resource Russian military operation in Ukraine, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), registered in the United States, announced that it does not plan to delegate the .ru, .su, .рф domains. On March 2, 2022, ICANN CEO and President Göran Marbyreportedin a letter in response to an appeal by Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov that the corporation would not comply with his request to delegate the .ru, .su and .рф domains. "The globally agreed policies do not provide for ICANN to take unilateral action to disable these domains at your request. You can understand why such a system cannot operate on the basis of requests from one territory or country concerning internal operations in another territory or country. Such a change in process would have devastating and irreversible consequences for the trust and usefulness of the global system," the letter said.
A representative of the ICANN press service told a ComNews correspondent that the corporation’s position has not changed since then.
Andrey Vorobyov noted the importance of the fact that, in the context of sanctions pressure on Russia, ICANN is taking a balanced position, declaring that the connectivity of the Internet should not be destroyed for the sake of political goals.
"We have an agreement with ICANN on the national domain zones .ru and .рф, and it is important for us to ensure the integration of national domains into the general Internet addressing system, as well as to ensure their reliable operation under any conditions," Andrey Vorobyov said in a conversation with a ComNews correspondent. "In particular, at the request of the state and Roskomnadzor, we have built a system to counter the consequences of possible shutdowns of our domain zones and can promise that the .ru and .рф domains will continue to operate in the event of any sanctions or man-made disaster. The national domain name system, even in the event of the shutdown of the .ru/.рф domains from the root of the Internet, will allow Russian users and clients of providers in friendly countries to continue to have access to sites on these domains."
Due to sanctions restrictions on settlements between Russian banks and foreign banks, most domestic domain registrars have difficulties fulfilling contractual financial obligations to ICANN. But many Russian registrars are solving this problem, and ICANN is understanding their situation and for now allows them to have debts on payment of bills.
Andrey Vorobyov said that the CC as a registry of national domains does not have a mandatory payment to ICANN, but only a voluntary contribution. "In 2022, for the first time, it was not made due to sanctions restrictions, and this problem was noted at the general meeting of the founders of the CC. ICANN is also aware of this problem, and the situation is so far being understood by them," he said.
"ICANN maintains regular contacts with its registries and registrars-managers, including in Russia. ICANN is aware of the problems that some Russian organizations are facing when transferring payments to organizations based in the United States, but so far this has not had a significant impact on ICANN's ability to collect payments," a representative of the ICANN press service told ComNews.
Russian domain name registrar Active.domains (OOO "Aktiv.Domains"), according to its CEO Ilya Krukover, was unable to resolve the problem with paying ICANN bills. "I informed Mikhail Anisimov from the Russian division of ICANN about this. He told me that ICANN does not see a problem, because all Russian registrars somehow resolve this issue. For example, RU-Center, as far as I know, pays from accounts in Russia. In 2022, we specifically opened an account with Raiffeisen Bank to pay ICANN bills. This year, it is no longer possible to pay bills through Raiffeisen Bank," Ilya Krukover told a ComNews correspondent.