Due to the introduction of restrictive measures against the Russian Federation, many Russian websites have had their international SSL/TLS certificates, which prove the authenticity of the websites and allow the use of an encrypted connection when accessing these websites, revoked.
To continue functioning such websites began using Russian TLS certificates that are issued by the National certification center of Mindigit starting this March. Owners of Russian websites may install these TLS certificates free of charge from the Public Services website starting 5 March 2022. The online services of Sberbank, VTB Bank, the Ministry of Labor, the Federal Penitentiary Service and other state bodies and organizations have now switched to these certificates.
Websites using Russian TLS certificates are seamlessly opened only through Yandex.Browser or Atom browser. These websites can also be accessed through other browsers – for this it is necessary to install Russian root certificates on the user’s device. Files can be downloaded from the website of the Public Services, where you can also find instructions for installation.
Since this was the emergency measure to continue the work of the websites, and there is no special procedure for notifying about transition to Russian certificates, information about such transition and the procedure for obtaining access to websites was brought to the attention of users only fragmentarily: for example, on 4 March 2022 it was posted on the website of the Ministry of Digital Development and on 2 April 2022 – on the website of the Unified State Information System in the field of healthcare (EGISZ). This situation could result in difficulties, for instance, with reporting through various state information resources.
Thus, to continue obtaining uninterrupted access to Russian websites, we recommend either installing the new certificates on your devices or using browsers supporting these certificates.