After 1989 a set of new internet domains was created in Europe, including.pl,.cs,.yu and.dd. Among them there was also a domain for the USSR –.su. Initially, before two-letter ccTLDs became standard, the Soviet Union was to receive a.ussr domain. The.su domain was proposed by the 19-year-old Finnish student Petri Ojala. On 26 December 1991 the countryformally ceased to exist and its constituent republics gained independence, which should have caused the domain to begin a phase-out process, as happened with those of East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. Until 1994 there was no assigned top-level domain name for Russia. For this reason the country continued to use the Soviet domain. In 1994 the.ru domain was created, which is supposed to eventually replace the.su domain. The domain was supposed to be withdrawn by ICANN, but it was kept at the request of the Russian government and Internet users. In 2001, the managers of the domain stated that they would commence accepting new.su registrations, but it is unclear whether this action was compatible with ICANN policies. ICANN has expressed intentions to terminate the.su domain and IANA states that the domain is being phased out, but lobbyists stated in September 2007 that they had started negotiations with ICANN on retaining the domain. In the first quarter of 2008,.su registrations increased by 45%.
Usage
The domain was intended to be used by Soviet institutions and companies operating in the USSR. Despite the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the superseding of the TLD by the new country TLDs of the republics that gained independence, it is still in use as of 2020. Most of the.su domains are registered in Russia and the United States. According to the RU-CENTER data from May 2010, there were over 93,500 registered domains with the.su TLD. Among the institutions still using this domain is the Russian pro-Vladimir Putin youth movementNashi, as well as by the pro-Russian armed insurgency in Eastern Ukraine. Some organizations with roots in the former Soviet Union also still use this TLD. The domain has been reported to host many cybercrime activities due to the lax, outdated terms of use, and staying out of focus. Rules for timely suspension of malicious domains have been in place since 2013. The pro-Russian separatist group Donetsk People's Republic have also registered their domain with the TLD.
