The third strategic session, Information Technologies and Indigenous Languages of Russia, was held in Moscow. The event was organized by the House of Peoples of Russia – the state’s dedicated ethnic heritage and resource center – jointly with Yandex, with support from the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs. Experts from the Coordination Center for TLDs .RU/.РФ also took part.
The session opened with a plenary meeting titled Sovereign AI: Preserving a Shared Cultural and Civilizational Code and Ensuring Data Security. The meeting was moderated by Anna Polezhayeva, Head of the House of Peoples of Russia, and Feride Aronia, Head of Language Project Support and Implementation.
During the plenary session, Igor Barinov, Head of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, noted that over the past few years, the House of Peoples of Russia has been working alongside the Federal Agency to ensure the digital sovereignty of the languages spoken by Russia’s indigenous communities.
“Language is the foundation of any group’s identity,” Barinov said. “It must be preserved so that traditions, customs, and cultures live on, because once a language fades, the distinct cultural context also dissolves in the modern globalized world. For this to happen, languages must be present in cyberspace – on phones, tablets, and neural networks. Yandex is providing tremendous assistance in this regard. This is the third time we’ve held a strategic session at the company’s headquarters, and the results of our joint work are already visible. Today, Yandex Translate will add a fourteenth language – Adyghe. This is how we preserve our linguistic diversity. I am confident that through our joint efforts, we will not lose a single language in the future.”
Mr. Barinov also highlighted the work being done by the Coordination Center for TLDs .RU/.РФ to digitize the languages of Russia’s diverse ethnic communities. He noted that starting in 2025, domain names under .РФ can be registered using the 18 official regional languages of the Russian Federation – a move that will also encourage the creation of new content in those languages. The speaker emphasized that comprehensive support for indigenous and regional languages online strengthens the country’s digital sovereignty and helps build a national ecosystem in which all languages are equal.
Georgy Georgievsky, Head of Registrar and User Relations at the Coordination Center, focused his remarks on changes to domain registration and maintenance rules that come into effect on September 1, 2026. The main innovations stem from Federal Law No. 569-FZ of December 29, 2025, On Amendments to the Federal Law On Information, Information Technologies, and the Protection of Information and Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation. These include mandatory identification of all domain registrants through the Unified Identification and Authentication System (ESIA, the Gosuslugi portal), as well as a special procedure for registering domain names for state customers. The Terms and Conditions of Domain Name Registration will be granted the status of an official document approved by the Government of the Russian Federation.
Georgievsky noted that 2026 will be a year of significant changes for the entire Russian domain industry.
“These changes are necessary – they will improve security and trust in the RuNet. Anonymous domain name registration in Russian national domain zones will become impossible, which will significantly complicate the illegal use of domain names in the .RU, .РФ, and .SU domains,” he said.
He emphasized that extensive work is currently underway to ensure the changes are seamless for both registrars and users.
The first day of the session concluded with workshops from IT experts on creating digital services.
Maria Kolesnikova, Chief Analyst at the Coordination Center, held a workshop on domain and email addressing using Cyrillic characters. She described the process of adding new Cyrillic characters from 18 official regional languages to the .РФ domain. Kolesnikova also discussed the history and specifics of internationalizing the domain space and email addressing, and helped participants understand which Russian resources already work with Cyrillic domain names and email addresses.
“Ensuring support for Cyrillic domain names and email addresses by all internet-enabled services and systems is one of the most important tasks. Its solution is necessary for the full digitalization of regional languages,” Kolesnikova said. “The Coordination Center is expanding the list of Cyrillic characters in the .РФ domain – this is one of the tools for ensuring that regional languages have a presence in the digital environment. It is also necessary to draw the attention of developers and website owners to this task. Expanding support for regional and indigenous languages online automatically means that the issue of Universal Acceptance should receive more attention from both the government and the tech community.”
Watch the full recording of the event here.
