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Russian technology companies are racing to relocate and reinforce their data centers underground following Ukrainian drone attacks that damaged facilities housing artificial intelligence supercomputers and disrupted cloud services for millions of users across the country. In response to these vulnerabilities, the Kremlin has mandated that data center owners reserve computing capacity for emergency state operations and cleared the potential utilization of foreign facilities.
Retaliatory Strikes Disrupt Major Russian Tech Giants
These developments stem from the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, during which the Russian military has continuously bombarded Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones, while specifically targeting Ukrainian data centers since late September. In retaliation, Ukraine launched drone strikes against military and infrastructure locations within Russia, degrading or completely disabling data centers managed by prominent Russian firms including tech conglomerate Yandex, state-owned Sberbank, social media platform VKontakte, and the Russian Ministry of Finance.
Proposals for Underground and Camouflaged Facilities
As reported by Russian newspaper Vedomosti, state-owned telecommunications enterprise Rostelecom has discussed the possibility of shifting certain Russian data centers beneath the ground through talks with mining company Norilsk. Furthermore, industry publication Data Center Dynamics highlighted a recent recommendation from a regional governor in Russia to construct data centers inside open-pit coal mines while developing green public parks on top for concealment.
Kremlin Decrees Mandatory State Capacity Reserves
Independent Russian news outlet Meduza reported that President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on November 2 requiring operators of Russian data centers to allocate 10 percent of their available space and processing capacity for potential government emergencies. This directive highlights the escalating anxiety within the Kremlin regarding the security and resilience of Russia’s cloud computing infrastructure amidst the ongoing war.
