.рф

Infobox Top level domain
name = .рф (.xn--p1ai)
background = #CCF


introduced = Not yet introduced
type = Internationalised top-level domain
status = Speculated
registry =
sponsor =
intendeduse = Entities connected with the Russian Federation
actualuse = Not yet introduced
restrictions = Intended for Cyrillic domain names only; no firm policy yet defined.
structure =
document =
disputepolicy =
website =

.рф (Punycode: xn--p1ai; _ru. Российская Федерация, transliterated: "Rossiyskaya Federatsiya", Lang-en|Russian Federation) is a hypothetical future Internet top-level domain for use by the Russian Federation.ru icon [http://www.cctld.ru/ru/news/index.php?id20=114 Пресс-конференция «Итоги развития российского национального домена RU в 2007 году»] ("Press conference: The outcome of the development of the Russian national domain RU in 2007"), "ccTLD.ru", 24 December 2007; accessed 8 January 2008.]

Intended use and commentary

If this domain is created, it will be intended for website names to be in the Russian language — or at least the Cyrillic alphabet.ru icon [http://top.rbc.ru/society/25/12/2007/131437.shtml Кириллический домен ".рф" появится в Сети в 2008 году] ("Cyrillic domain ".рф" will be introduced in 2008"), "RBC Informations Systems", 25 December 2007; accessed 24 September 2008.] In a press release in December 2007, Alexei Lesnikov of RU-Center suggested that the "administrative and technical difficulties" would be overcome within the following 12 months; as of September 2008, however, the top-level domain has yet to be launched. Lesnikov also suggested that an auction for domain names could be highly successful, as was the case with a similar domain name auction on the .su ccTLD.

With comparisons being made with an equivalent Chinese TLD of .中国, it is anticipated that take-up of a Russian Cyrillic TLD could outstrip demand for the Latin alphabet equivalent, .ru. That said, however, Veni Markovski, the regional manager covering Russia for ICANN believes the TLD is likely to be "unlikely to prove to be anything more than an eye-catching headline"en icon [http://blog.icann.org/?p=263 Will there really be a new Russian Internet?] , "ICANN blog, 11 January 2008; accessed 24 September 2008.] As another commenter pointed out: "ICANN will have to finish testing IDN TLDs before they can be introduced by Country Code managers. But once that happens, expect Russia to be at the front of the queue."en icon [http://www.domainesinfo.fr/english/152/russia-can-t-wait-for-idns.php Russia can't wait for IDNs] , "DomainesInfo", 3 January 2008; accessed 24 September 2008.] By contrast, the Bulgarian government announced its official intent to register .бг (.bg) in a letter to ICANN in June 2008.en icon [http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL2360195920080623 Bulgaria moves to register Cyrillic Internet domain] , "Reuters", 23 June 2008; accessed 24 September 2008.] [en icon [http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/pipermail/at-large_atlarge-lists.icann.org/2008q2/004232.html Bulgaria moves to register Cyrillic Internet domain] , "email from Dessi Pefeva to [http://www.atlarge.icann.org/ ICANN's At-Large] mailing list", 24 June 2008; accessed 24 September 2008.]

Choice of characters

One of the principles that ICANN's Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) would like to keep is that Greek and Cyrillic two-character top-level domains should not exclusively use characters that could be confused for Latin characters of identical or similar shapes — a problem that particularly limits Cyrillic choices.en icon [http://idn.wat.ch/wiki/index.php?title=IDN_ccTLD_Discussion#General_Remarks General remarks on Cyrillic IDNs] , "ICANN Generic Names Supporting Organization wiki", [http://idn.wat.ch/wiki/index.php?title=IDN_ccTLD_Discussion&oldid=406#General_Remarks revision dated 22 June 2008] ; accessed 24 September 2008.] As such, GNSO would seek to avoid the direct transcription of "ru" into Cyrillic, "ру", and common abbreviations for "Russia" ( _ru. Россия), such as "ро", in order to avoid confusion with the Latin ccTLDs .py (Paraguay) and .po (currently unassigned).

References

External links

* [http://ccnso.icann.org ICANN country-code name supporting organisation]
* [http://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/idn-time-table-19dec07.htm Timetable for the possible introduction of IDN ccTLDs]
* [http://idn.wat.ch/wiki/index.php?title=IDN_ccTLD_Discussion Discussion by GNSO about which IDN ccTLD to use for different countries]