MOSCOW, Russia / Eurasian Newswire / – Russian President Vladimir Putin has authorised the temporary use of computing power from foreign data centres to support Russian information resources. The decree, signed on November 2, was published on the official legal information portal. It says the measure is needed due to the unfriendly actions of certain foreign states. It aims to keep resources owned by Russian citizens and companies running without interruption.
The decree also requires Russian data centres owned by non-government organisations, state-owned or municipal enterprises and institutions to reserve 10% of their space and capacity. This must be done within 10 days of the decree’s entry into force. The data centres can continue to use the reserved capacity themselves. If a special subcommittee orders it, however, the capacity must be made available within 24 hours, at a price capped by the subcommittee.
Decisions on the temporary use of foreign facilities will be taken by the subcommittee, which will operate under the government commission on digital development. Each decision must be approved by the Federal Security Service (FSB). The government has been instructed to set up the subcommittee and approve a procedure for using reserve and foreign computing capacity. Reuters, cited by The Moscow Times, said the measures are meant to keep Russia’s IT infrastructure running.
Ministry to audit data centre capacity
The Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media must carry out an inventory of available space and capacity in Russian data centres. It must also set mandatory requirements for the reliability and uninterrupted operation of information resources. Russian technology companies have been building services designed to run on domestic infrastructure. In October, MWS AI launched an office AI agent that can be deployed inside closed corporate environments in Russia.
On November 2, the business daily Vedomosti reported that Rostelecom is working on underground data centres with enhanced protection against external threats. The state-controlled telecoms operator is in talks with mining company Norilsk Nickel about building such a facility. Rostelecom is one of Russia’s largest providers of data centre and cloud services. The plans follow a series of attacks on Russian digital infrastructure in recent weeks.
Drone strikes hit Yandex and Sber sites
In October, Russian data centres were repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian drones. Facilities of Yandex, which also operates delivery robots in Russia, were hit in Sasovo in the Ryazan region, Kaluga and Vladimir between October 7 and 11, according to Euronews, citing AP. A Sber data centre in Balakovo in the Saratov region was struck on October 14, and a VKontakte site in the Leningrad region on October 18.
Russians reported failures in payments, navigation and cloud services after the strikes, Euronews said. None of the companies has disclosed the scale of the damage. Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said the ministry and the Ministry of Defence were discussing additional measures to protect data centres from drones. Experts told AP that restoring the damaged facilities could take months or even years. Euronews said it had not been explained why air defences did not protect the sites.