Russian RU/RF domain apocalypse postponed: Gosuslugi isn't ready
The grand plan to gatekeep the entire RU, RF, and SU internet behind Gosuslugi logins has hit a massive, hilarious wall. Apparently, writing laws is much easier than actually building the tech to enforce them.
Law 569-FZ promised that starting September 1, 2026, every single domain operation in the Russian zones would require a verified Gosuslugi account. The government simply forgot to write the actual rules to make it happen. Because the necessary regulations and technical integrations with ESIA remain stuck in bureaucratic limbo, the Coordination Center for TLD RU/RF has pushed the deadline to January 18, 2027.
This means that for now, the status quo remains intact. Domain owners can continue to renew registrations, swap administrators, and tweak DNS settings without handing over their digital souls to the state database. Foreign entities, who were previously staring down the barrel of needing a local taxpayer ID just to keep their websites alive, get a temporary reprieve from this administrative nightmare.
This is a masterclass in how to implement a law: draft a thunderous mandate, wait for the panic to set in, and then quietly admit that the infrastructure doesn't exist. Much like the messy rollout of ad-labeling laws years ago, the state has proven once again that it excels at creating complex legal traps that even they lack the competence to spring.
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