Russia plans to tighten .ru domain hosting policy

Russian Internet regulation is undergoing major changes. According to TASS, Russia's communications regulator Roskomnadzor is promoting a new policy that requires all ".ru" domain websites to use Russian local hosting services. This means that ".ru" websites currently hosted overseas will face forced migration.

This policy is based on Russian Federal Law No. 406-FZ. The law, which came into effect on December 15, 2023 and was fully implemented on February 1, 2024, stipulates that all hosting service providers operating in Russia must meet the following requirements:

Submit a notification to Roskomnadzor before starting to provide hosting services and be included in the official registration list;

Comply with information protection requirements established by Roskomnadzor;

Ensure customer identity authentication, comply with national cybersecurity standards, and have the ability to defend against DDoS attacks.

Roskomnadzor noted that many international hosting providers have failed to meet these requirements, including Amazon Web Services, GoDaddy, DigitalOcean, Ionos, Kamatera, and others. As a result, these companies may be restricted from operating in Russia or even banned from providing hosting services. (en.iz.ru)

In fact, Kazakhstan implemented a similar ".kz" domain hosting localization policy as early as 2019, providing a reference for Russia. For ".ru" domain owners, especially those with active localized content, if the proposed restrictions officially take effect, they may need to quickly migrate to Russian hosting providers. At present, there is no official deadline, but regulatory trends indicate that change is imminent.

Information source: domain-recht