Russia allows temporary overseas data center use after drone attacks

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an emergency decree allowing domestic companies to temporarily use data centers abroad after Ukrainian drone attacks hit facilities in Russia.

Companies cannot move their operations overseas without approval. The government must authorize each arrangement and may consider whether domestic computing capacity is available. Russian data center operators must also reserve 10% of their capacity for emergency government use and make it available with 24 hours’ notice.

The attacks affected three Yandex facilities in Sasovo, Kaluga and Vladimir. Some Yandex services and services run by third parties on its infrastructure went offline. Yandex operates three major supercomputers; one ranked 19th globally in a 2021 study. Two were based in Sasovo and used for model training. The source says all three are believed to remain intact, though they may have been relocated or be in the process of moving.

Russia is also considering underground data centers. State-owned telecoms company Rostelcom is reportedly in talks with mining company Norilsk, according to Ars Technica, while a governor has proposed facilities in open-pit coal mines. The source notes that Russia has previously attacked Ukrainian data center facilities, and that Ukraine has moved many critical services to overseas cloud infrastructure.

The decree marks a shift in Russia’s push for digital sovereignty, as data centers become targets in the conflict.