RIPE NCC Response to Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

Letter from the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Matters of National Security, Defense and Intelligence (PDF)Response from Managing Director of the RIPE NCC (PDF)

Amsterdam, 20 October 2022

Dear People’s Deputy Oleksandr Fedienko,

We would like to again extend our deep concern for the people of Ukraine and particularly those working to maintain stable Internet operations at this time. We also want to thank you for your letter dated 11 October 2022. This forms an excellent basis for us and the rest of the RIPE community to work together to resolve this urgent matter.

The RIPE NCC is aware of the concerns that Internet resources could be transferred away from their rightful holders during periods of war and distress. To this end, we have published an article (see appendix) that outlines some of the difficulties and provides an overview of what we are currently doing to mitigate the problem. The article also assesses some of the various options that have been proposed to further address it.

As the article makes clear, we share the goal of protecting resource holders in Ukraine during the war. As you acknowledge in your letter, the RIPE NCC must act within the limits of RIPE policy. With this in mind, we will present our analysis of the situation at the RIPE 85 Meeting during the RIPE NCC Services Working Group session at 14:30 UTC+2 on 26 October. On the same day, from 09:00-11:30 UTC+2, the Address Policy Working Group will meet to discuss matters of policy, and we suggest that this would be a good forum to raise these matters.

We think this is a good opportunity for us to discuss the issue with the RIPE community and with RIPE NCC members. We welcome your participation in these sessions as well as that of resource holders from Ukraine.

Finally, I want to restate our commitment to working together with all stakeholders to reach an outcome that will meet the needs of our members in Ukraine.

Sincerely,

Hans Petter Holen
Managing Director
RIPE NCC