Comment by the_mitsuhiko

> It sounds like ICANN has tried to get rid of it but had too much opposition.

Not my recollection. As far as I know ICANN said they will retire it, a handful of companies in Russia complained and ICANN said that if they want to retain it they need to get the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency to create an exceptional reservation. Today it has an exceptional reservation so .su won't be retired.

As for how that reservation was created and what the process is I don't know.