According to a Press release just out, RU-CENTER, “Russia’s first and largest domain registrar and hosting company”, has joined Afternic’s Premium Reseller Network.

RU-CENTER has more than 500,000 customers and 3 million domain names under management

“Through the partnership RU-CENTER will add Afternic’s premium domains to search results on nic.ru.”

“RU-CENTER will also utilize Afternic’s Instant Transfer technology on these listings, giving buyers instant access to their purchased premium domains – a significant improvement over the lengthy escrow process used by legacy domain marketplaces.”

“Afternic has the largest portfolio of instant transfer domains in the world,” commented Andrey Vorobyev, RU-CENTER Director of Public and Government Relations. “This was a big factor in our decision to partner with them. Along with the ease and speed of their Instant Transfer technology, the quality of Afternic’s domain listings will add much value to our users’ experience and give our customers a greater range of choices in their domain research and selection process.”

“Afternic’s integration with RU-CENTER will be completed by the end of March 2012, when premium listings will start appearing on nic.ru. RU-CENTER has been the gateway for the Russian public to the .ru aftermarket and auction experience. ”

“This partnership with Afternic will take RU-CENTER to the next level, introducing their customers to more premium domain names in general TLDs (.com/.org/.net /.biz / .info), and turning it into a truly global marketplace.”

“This is a very exciting partnership for us,” commented Jason Miner, Senior Vice President of Sales and General Manager of Afternic. “The success of the domain aftermarket depends on bringing the biggest and best registrars around the world into the Afternic network, including RU-CENTER, the largest registrar in Russia. Now domain sellers listing their names on Afternic will have an expanded buying audience and RU-CENTER will have an expanded offering for its customers. It’s a win-win.”