Russian regulation requires every registrant of .RU, .COM.RU, .NET.RU and .ORG.RU to verify their identity through Gosuslugi, the Russian state identification system. We no longer register these extensions — new registrations closed on 31 August 2026. We notified affected clients by email in August 2026; this page is the permanent reference.
What the requirement does
From 1 September 2026, a domain whose registrant has not verified cannot be renewed, transferred to another registrar, transferred to another registrant, or have its nameserver delegation changed.
An unverified domain is not suspended and does not stop resolving — your site and email keep working. The consequence arrives at the expiry date: an unverified domain cannot be renewed, so it is lost when it expires.
What verification involves
A fully verified Gosuslugi account; a simplified account is not enough. The registrar receives and checks passport data (series, number, issue date, issuing authority) and the registered residential address.
If you cannot use Gosuslugi
Two alternatives exist. You can transfer the domain to an eligible Russian person or company, who then becomes the registrant. Or you can move the domain to the registrar's direct service and contract a paid "trustee" arrangement, where an authorised Russian company becomes the legal registrant while you keep day-to-day control — as of August 2026, roughly RUB 10,500 to activate plus about RUB 17,500 per year, with identity documents sent to them within 7 business days. We do not resell or intermediate that arrangement, and we do not want copies of your identity documents.
On privacy — read this if it is why you chose .RU
We will be straight with you. Every available path attaches the domain to a named identity: Gosuslugi puts your passport data and registered home address into a state database, the trustee route means sending identity documents and giving up legal ownership, and handing the domain to a third party means that person controls it. Note also that the verification itself is performed on a Russian state portal, which is where the identification happens.
If you chose .RU expecting the domain not to be attached to your identity, no .RU option satisfies that any more. The cleaner path is to move your project to a different TLD and let the .RU domain expire. Open a ticket and we will help you plan the migration.
Your hosting and servers with us are completely unaffected. This concerns domain registration only.
Nameservers, if you still hold one of these domains
Nameserver delegation can no longer be changed without verification. If your domain already points at nameservers you control, the DNS records inside the zone remain editable and normal changes still work. If it points elsewhere, your DNS is frozen until the registrant verifies.
Phishing — this does not go away
Verification legitimately involves logging into a state portal, which is exactly what a phishing campaign imitates. The following is permanently true:
- We will never ask you for your Gosuslugi credentials, identity documents, or a copy of your passport — not by email, not by ticket, not by chat.
- We do not send you login links. Reach any panel by typing the address yourself.
- Forward anything you are unsure about and we will check it with you.
Official references
- Registry FAQ (official, Russian): cctld.ru/help/faq/
- Registry guidance for registrants: cctld.ru/domains/registrant/
- Gosuslugi portal: gosuslugi.ru
Use your browser's translation if needed. For questions about a specific domain, open a ticket.
