September 30 is Internet Day in Russia: history, traditions, congratulations

Every year, on September 30, Russia celebrates Internet Day, an unofficial but symbolic celebration of the digital age. In 2025, the date falls on a Tuesday. Read about how the network developed in Russia, who stood at its origins, whom and how it is customary to congratulate, in the Izvestia article.

Internet Day — 2025: the history of the holiday

The initial step towards the creation of the Russian segment of the World Wide Web was taken in 1993. Then the largest providers of the Russian Federation agreed to submit a joint application for the establishment of a national domain zone RU. This agreement, signed on December 4, 1993, approved the independent organization RosNIIROS as the zone's administrator. In April 1994 , the domain .RU has officially appeared in the global network system.

In 2001 , management .RU was transferred to the Coordination Center of the national Internet domain, leaving RosNIIROS as the technical operator.

The first website of the Runet was www.ru . It was a catalog of registered Russian resources and resembled the prototype of Yandex. And the first thematic page in the zone .RU is considered www.1-9-9-4.ru , which published materials on culture, politics, science, and tourism.

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In 2010, an important event took place in the Russian digital space — the launch of the Cyrillic top-level domain.The Russian Federation, which has become accessible to a wide audience. This is how the Internet has become closer and clearer to millions of Russian-speaking users.

As for the holiday itself, the idea of establishing Internet Day belongs to the Moscow company IT Infoart Stars. In 1998, she proposed to conduct a "census" of Runet users on September 30 and fix the date as Internet community Day. At that time, only one million Russians had access to the Internet.

Since then, the Internet in the country has gone from a technological novelty to a tool that affects every aspect of society.

Traditions of celebrating Internet Day

Internet Day is accompanied by many events organized both in the professional environment and at the user level. On September 30, conferences, business sessions, presentations of new developments and discussions on cybersecurity issues are held in IT companies. The focus is on data protection, digital infrastructure development, and e-commerce trends.

Educational institutions traditionally host themed class hours and lectures. Students are introduced to the basics of digital hygiene, rules of behavior in social networks, and are also involved in contests and projects related to the history of the Internet. Workshops on analytics, SEO, and the use of search platforms and online services are organized for students.

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Online events such as quizzes, quizzes, and challenges are held in various Russian cities. Users share their stories of first connections, retro screenshots, and memories on social networks.

Who and how they congratulate on September 30 — best wishes

On September 30 in Russia, congratulations are received by specialists whose work is related to IT and the Internet: These are programmers, web designers, system administrators, SMM managers, engineers, bloggers, teachers of digital disciplines and students of specialized fields. However, this day can be safely called a holiday for everyone who uses the Internet every day, as it has long and firmly become a part of work, learning, communication and creativity in modern society.

Izvestia has prepared several unusual and relevant greetings:

• "Congratulations on Internet Day! Let the connection be stable, like bug—free code, and let life be bright, like a well-designed landing page. We wish projects to reach the top without any extra charges and costs, and inspiration does not depend on Wi-Fi.";
• "Happy Internet Day! Let your digital security be stronger than any firewall, and let your mood be brighter than the background on your monitor. We wish you not only to be online, but also to have time to relax offline, catch vivid shots and create viral content!";
• "Congratulations on Internet Day! Let there be only a white hacker named Luck in life, any bugs can be fixed with a single restart, and no algorithm can replace your humanity — the main code of any system!";
• "Happy Internet Day! Let your life be like an ideal website — fast, responsive, with easy navigation and a minimum of pop-up problems. We wish that every click opens up new horizons, and updates bring only joy, not suspense.";
• "Congratulations on Internet Day! Let the algorithms of fate always bring happiness and stability to the top of requests, and spam is bypassed. We wish that the personal browser of life always opens only the right tabs — with love, success and bright opportunities."

Interesting facts about the Internet Day and the Digital environment

• Internationally, Internet Day is celebrated on April 4, the memorial day of Saint Isidore of Seville, recognized by the Vatican as the patron saint of the Internet and computers for creating the first encyclopedia in history.;
• The world's first website appeared on August 6, 1989, it was created by Tim Berners-Lee. The page is still running at info.cern.ch;
• the domain .TV does not belong to a TV company, but to the island state of Tuvalu. The income from its rent makes up a significant part of the country's budget;
• The first webcam was invented in Cambridge in 1991 - scientists wanted to remotely monitor the level of coffee in the coffee maker.;
• The Internet is recognized as one of the factors of economic development, and its accessibility is becoming a criterion for the quality of life.

Earlier, Izvestia told when and how the Day of the Machine Builder is celebrated in Russia.