Russia orders private data centers to reserve 10% of capacity for state use after drone strikes
Operators face a 24-hour deadline to release reserved capacity when a government commission calls it up, and some are weighing moving sites underground.
Russian authorities have ordered private data center operators to set aside 10% of their capacity for possible state use, after Ukrainian drone strikes hit major facilities. One strike in early October damaged Russia's largest 63-megawatt site so badly that several modules were pulled from service, and users of Yandex services reported outages. A later strike reportedly hit the finance ministry's facility, which reportedly holds tax and state registry records. Under the new rules, a government commission can call up reserved capacity, and owners would have 24 hours to comply, with foreign facilities also floated pending security service approval. Separately, Russian operators are reportedly weighing relocating data centers underground, which would be a costly and slow fix.
Why it matters
The rules move control of a share of Russia's private computing capacity toward the state, and the strikes on the largest facility show how exposed that infrastructure is to attack. Operators now have to plan for state claims on capacity they previously controlled alone, while the reported underground option would be expensive and slow to carry out.
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