Few international registrars continued offering services for Russia’s .ru domain following the 2022 sanctions. Now, in addition to a shrinking pool of .ru registrars, international domain managers may soon face another potential challenge: a requirement that .ru websites be hosted exclusively through authorized Russian companies.
The information comes to us from an April 6 article from the Russian News Agency TASS [1] sourced to Roskomnadzor, the Russian state agency in charge of supervising mass media. Soon after the article’s publication, an IP Twins partner that is accredited with the Russian domain registry sent an email interpreting the news for .ru domain managers abroad and advising them on steps to be taken.
To be clear: No policy change has yet been formalized and there is no timeline for when this rule may go into effect.
Explaining the rationale to TASS, Roskomnadzor cited work that had been done to establish a set of standards for Russian hosting providers included in the official register, but that foreign hosting companies (not included in the registrar) do not always meet these standards. To address this, Roskomnadzor indicates the following:
“Taking into account the risks to which the resources located at the facilities of these companies are exposed, the work of such hosting providers may be limited in the territory of the Russian Federation. In this case, they will not be able to provide hosting services…”
This is the most direct signal sent by Roskomnadzor on its plans to restrict foreign hosting companies, but previous comments foreshadow such a move. On March 20, some Russian users were reportedly unable to access key messaging, banking, and government websites. In a press release issued in response, Roskomnadzor stated:
“The inoperability of some Russian services is related to the use of foreign server infrastructure.” It went on to “recommend that domestic organizations use the capacities of Russian hosting providers.” [2]
Should such a hosting requirement materialize, it would not be without precedent. Kazakhstan’s .kz domain is subject to similar rules, enforced periodically by the national registry [3]. If the registry detects that an A or CNAME record points to infrastructure outside of Kazakhstan, the registrant is notified and given 10 days to migrate to local servers.
At this stage, nothing has been confirmed, but if the rule is introduced for .ru domains, domain managers would likely need to begin by identifying which .ru domains are critical websites versus those that serve defensive or redirect purposes. For domains with no meaningful traffic or use, removing DNS records pointing to foreign IP addresses may be enough to avoid compliance issues (if and when enforcement begins).
For domains that deliver real value, particularly those with active, localized content, migration to a Russian hosting provider may eventually be necessary. In such cases, local or regional web teams are often already involved and may be well placed to assess the quality and reliability of hosting options within Russia.
Again, there is no known deadline or formal policy at this time. Therefore, we recommend a measured approach focused on due diligence, rather than immediate migration efforts.
IP Twins will continue to monitor the situation closely with our local partners and provide updates as soon as any official details become available.
Notes
[1] РКН предупредил о возможном ограничении работы зарубежных провайдеров хостинга, tass.ru, 2025-04-07.
[2] Roskomnadzor explained the inactivity of some Russian services, en.iz.ru, 2025-03-20.
[3] Important Changes to the Rules of Registration and Use of Domain Names in the .KZ and .ҚАЗ Zones, onehost.kz.
