Runet's Broken Websites Top Half a Million, Runity Study Finds

The number of non-working websites in Russia's .ru zone has passed half a million. Monitoring of the domain zone, analyzed by the Runity group, found 552,866 sites that return errors when accessed in 2026. That is 24% more than two years earlier.

The trend has been steady. In September 2024, monitoring recorded 442,710 problem sites, and a year later the figure was 515,267. Such resources now account for 9.3% of all registered domains in .ru.

What the errors mean

Most of these sites respond to requests with HTTP status codes in the 4xx and 5xx ranges. The 4xx codes point to a problem with the request or with access to a page; 404 Not Found, for example, means the requested page is missing or unavailable. The 5xx codes indicate errors on the server side, which may signal failures in its operation.

Common causes include mistakes made while migrating or updating sites and the end of support for outdated web projects. An error does not necessarily mean the owner has closed the site for good.

Why the count keeps growing

Runity links the growth partly to the accumulation of abandoned web projects. Companies and individuals register domains for new initiatives, but not every site continues to be maintained or updated. The domain names can stay registered even after a project stops.

Other factors also affect availability. Software vulnerabilities are one: on 21 October 2026, the discovery of two critical PHP vulnerabilities led to a temporary shutdown of a number of sites worldwide, as owners restricted access until updates were installed to reduce the risk of attacks.

Domain management problems matter too. Even a technically healthy site can become unreachable if the owner has lost access to the registrar account or has not updated the administrator's contact details.

For site owners, the findings are a reminder that a registered domain does not guarantee a working site, and that regular maintenance, timely security updates and up-to-date registrar access remain basic requirements.