Ukraine used various means to resist the Russian invasion, including by asking the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to kick Russia off the Internet.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked ICANN to kick out Russian domains, such as .ru, ..рф, and .su. He also requested ICANN's contribution to blocking SSL certificates from the domain and also blocked Russian root DNS servers.
The goal is to disrupt internet connections throughout Russia, which since February 24 invaded Ukraine. Also to avoid any disinformation campaign from Russia regarding the invasion.
"All this will help users who are looking for reliable information in the alternative domain zone, avoid any propaganda and disinformation campaigns," explains Fedorov.
However, the Ukrainian request was rejected by ICANN. According to Goran Marby, President of ICANN, ICANN does not have the authority to cut Russia's ties to the Internet.
"Our mission does not include taking punitive steps, imposing sanctions, or blocking access to certain segments of the internet, regardless of the provocation. ICANN applies its policies consistently and in line with a documented process," explained Marby.
"Making unilateral changes would undermine confidence in the multi-stakeholder model and policies designed to maintain global internet interoperability," he added in a letter sent to Fedorov.
ICANN's refusal is rare, where there are organizations that choose not to participate in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That is pressuring the Russian economy to force its military to stop invading Ukraine.
However, ICANN certainly has its reasons, because the web system is decentralized and can destabilize the core foundation of the internet. ICANN itself is a non-profit organization that is responsible for coordinating improvements and operational procedures for Domain Name System (DNS), introduction of Top Level Domains (TLD), and root name server operations.
For information, the organization that was founded in September 1998 is now headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States, as quoted by us from Techspot, Monday (7/3/2022).