Moscow is grabbing Russia's country-code top-level domains

The Russian organization in charge of Russia's country code top-level domains, .ru and .РФ, says it will hand control over to the government. The organization's reform was discussed at a Ministry of Communications meeting in late June. The intention, according to sources, is essentially to "liquidate" the organization and replace it with another structure elaborated in a bill on the autonomy and critical infrastructure of Russia's Internet.

There are four contenders in the running to take on the responsibilities of Russia's soon-to-be "liquidated" top-level domain coordinating organization: Rostelecom, Giprosvyaz, and the research institutes “Voskhod” and “Radio.”

"From the point of view of [those responsible for] the reforms, this [decision] is purely commercial," a source told the newspaper Kommersant.

It is anticipated that the organization's current director, Andrei Vorobyov, will also be replaced. Stanislav Puginsky, a partner at law firm Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev and Partners, is likely to be succeed him.

Russia's Communications Ministry has yet to provide any details regarding the structure of the new organization. Giprosvyaz declined to comment, while Radio, Voskhod, and Rostelecom all ignored Kommersant's inquiries.