The RIPE NCC and Ukraine/Russia
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine on 24 February, we have received many questions and comments regarding our position and about how our services and procedures are affected.This page provides an overview of information on topics that we have seen are of interest to members and community.
Last updated: 18 March 2022
The RIPE NCC’s Position
The RIPE NCC’s official position in relation to the war comprises the following:
RIPE NCC Executive Board Resolution on Provision of Critical Services
RIPE NCC Managing Director’s Response to Request from Ukrainian Government
The RIPE NCC will only announce changes to its position or affiliation with external initiatives, campaigns or positions via the Chairman of its Executive Board or its Managing Director.
Membership Issues
We continue to follow all our procedures in the same way as we did before the outbreak of war.We treat all members equally and the same requirements are made of all members in terms of due diligence checks.If we need to make any changes to our procedures, these will be clearly communicated to all members.
We have made clear to members in Ukraine and Russia that they do not risk having their accounts closed if they are unable to make payments on time or respond to administrative requests due to the ongoing conflict or sanctions imposed on financial institutions that make timely payment impossible.
We have received many suggestions for how we might change our processes or procedures in light of the war in Ukraine.We are investigating all proposals and will come back to members with our findings.
If you are a RIPE NCC member and have suggestions, you should make them via the Membership Discussion mailing list where we will see them and other members can discuss your proposal.
Keeping our members and critical services operational under these circumstances is our main focus at the moment.
Sanctions
The RIPE NCC will at all times comply fully with EU sanctions.An article clarifying this in light of the current situation is available on RIPE Labs.
Finance and Billing
All members have been invoiced as normal.This has been requested by both Russian and Ukrainian members, although we have made clear to members that they do not risk having their accounts closed if they are unable to make payments in the normal timeframe.
Members can pay their invoices using the methods provided on our payments page .
It should be noted that our invoices are on a yearly basis, although members can choose to pay in installments (please make sure to reference debtor and invoice numbers if you do this).
Our invoices state the Euro amount that is due.Payment in other currencies is accepted but we recommend not to do this as the bank converts to Euro at the current rate which can result in underpayment or overpayment.
We do not accept payment in crypto currencies.Major banks and payment facilitators do not yet accept these types of payments and the fluctuation in value of these currencies make them problematic.We will however investigate possibilities in this area.
If there are any changes to our billing procedure, they will be formally communicated to all members via the RIPE NCC Announce mailing list .
Registration Services
We continue to follow all our procedures in the same way as we did before the outbreak of war.
We treat all members equally and the same requirements are made of all members in terms of due diligence.
Information Services
Our position means that the information and data provided by the RIPE NCC can be trusted as authoritative and free from bias or political influence.We provide our data freely to the Internet community and others who carry out research on the Internet and how traffic is routed over it.
RIPE NCC technical analyses of the situation, as well as articles from members of the technical community, are available on RIPE Labs .
Engagement
Some of the engagements or consultations we had planned to carry out with members (e.g.continuation of the consultation on a new Charging Scheme model) will be put on hold until the full membership is able to give attention to these issues.
The ENOG 19 / RIPE NCC Regional Meeting that was scheduled to take place in Moscow from 20-21 June 2022 has been postponed.The ENOG community will decide if and how events take place in future, and the RIPE NCC will support the decisions made by the community.
The RIPE 84 Meeting will take place as planned from 16-20 May 2022.The physical meeting will take place in Berlin and there will be full remote attendance options for those who wish to participate online.
The SEE 10 Meeting will take place as planned from 11-12 April 2022 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.There will be full remote attendance options for those who wish to participate online..
