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Runet (, short for Russian Internet) is the name Russian-speaking Internet users commonly use to call the part of Internet written or understood in the Russian language.
There is no commonly accepted history of the name. It was first used during the middle 1990s when the Internet was first slowly spreading through Russia. Usage of word 'Runet' later becomes almost official and is now used in the title of the Runet Prize given out yearly and supported by governmental Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications (FAPMC). The FAPMC-supported educational portal on the Russian language, Gramota.ru, shows 'Рунет' listed[1] in the 2001 electronic version of a spelling dictionary issued by the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The history of the Russian Internet first began in 1990 from the development of analog modem-based computer networks in the USSR, intended to connect scientific organizations (primarily Kurchatov nuclear physics institute). Many Soviet state-controlled structures were inherited by the Russian Federation after the fall of the USSR. With the transformation of the economy, market-based telecommunication industries grew quickly. By the mid 1990s, computer networks appeared in many branches of regular life and commerce in Post-Soviet states. The Internet became a popular means of communication for anyone in the world who spoke Russian. National Nets of former Soviet Republics began to occur (e.g. Uznet for Uzbekistan, Kaznet for Kazakhstan etc.).
With increases in Russian-encoded email, Usenet and WWW usage, the Internet-aware society of Russians began to grow. Russian FidoNet activity also contributed to the development of Runet.
Runet Prize organizers formally consider Runet as starting with the registration of the .ru domain in 1994; thus, in 2004 the first Runet Prise award ceremony was dedicated to "10 years of Runet". A separate count is held for the creation of the 'Soviet Internet' (the Soviet .su domain was registered on September 19, 1990, before the state dissolved in 1991). In 2005 there was a conference in Kurchatov Institute on the domain's 15 year anniversary. The domain still functions, and registration is available through a Russian-based registrar.
ROMIR monitoring agency says that as of the second quarter of 2006, 19% (or about 21 million) of the people in Russia older than 18 are part of the "Internet audience".[2] InternetWorld Stats gives 23.7 million users out of 143.6 million Russian population (16.5%, 664.5% 2000—2006 usage growth).[3] In November 2006 TNS Gallup Media in a research referred to as as "first quality Internet audience research in Russia" said monthly Runet audience was more than 15 million.[4] Rukv.ru monitoring project states 639,174 WWW-addresses within .ru and .su responding in March 2007.[5]
Runet is distinguished by the usage of the Russian language, not necessarily by a .ru domain or a server physically located within the Russian Federation. Nor Runet is limited to WWW-servers as there are vast other-type Russian resources such as email groups, FTP space and large local Intranets. In addition to Russian nationals and citizens, Runet includes millions of Russian-speaking residents of former Soviet Republics, Israel, the US, and other countries — there are significant Russian-speaking diasporas around the globe.
Today Runet's business sector is growing, with many mass media websites, e-commerce, and other sites. Runet's largest online community[6] is of the Russian-speaking users of USA-based blogging platform LiveJournal, widely known as 'ЖЖ' ('ZheZhe', short for Zhivoy Zhurnal (), Russian for "live journal".