Domain registrar Namecheap stops serving Russian users: Domains must be transferred out by March 6

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Namecheap, a well-known domain name registrar known for its low prices, recently issued a notice to all Russian users, in the notice, the company said that it could no longer provide any services for Russian users, and all Russian users must transfer their domain names to other registrars before March 6, 2022. After March 6th these domains will be automatically locked and automatically configured as 403 Forbidden HTTP.

Namecheap termination email (banteg)

The current situation may be tricky for Russian users, mainly because Russia will not be able to use payment methods such as Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal due to sanctions. In fact, it is very difficult to register or renew the domain name whether it is on Namecheap or not. Unless there is a local domain registrar in Russia that accepts local banks and pays in Russian rubles.
The company says in the emails sent earlier today:

“Unfortunately, due to the Russian regime’s war crimes and human rights violations in Ukraine, we will no longer be providing services to users registered in Russia. While we sympathize that this war may not affect your own views or opinion on the matter, the fact is, your authoritarian government is committing human rights abuses and engaging in war crimes so this is a policy decision we have made and will stand by. If you hold any top-level domains with us, we ask that you transfer them to another provider by March 6, 2022. Additionally, and with immediate effect, you will no longer be able to use Namecheap Hosting, EasyWP, and Private Email with a domain provided by another registrar in zones .ru, .xn--p1ai (рф), .by, .xn--90ais (бел), and .su. All websites will resolve to 403 Forbidden, however, you can contact us to assist you with your transfer to another provider.“

Namecheap hosts more than 14 million domain names, including a large number of domain names registered and hosted by Russian users. It is very difficult for Russian users to host domain names at non-Russian domain name service providers. Mainly because various financial payment channels were blocked after the implementation of the sanctions, Russian users could not use international credit cards to pay fees through the conversion of rubles to dollars.

Not only are users unable to register or renew domain names on Namecheap, but the same is also true for other international registrars. After all, the payment on the international platform mainly relies on Visa, Mastercard, or tying the card to PayPal. Combined with the fact that the exchange rate of the ruble against the dollar is now diving, it means that users can pay more than usual registration fees.

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