Russia drafts plans to bury servers and seize private computing capacity following drone strikes

Russian tech firms and officials are weighing proposals to move computing facilities underground after Ukrainian drone strikes degraded sites housing artificial intelligence supercomputers and knocked out state and corporate networks. Recent strikes targeted facilities run by tech firm Yandex, state lender Sberbank, VKontakte, and the Russian Ministry of Finance, damaging a 63-megawatt facility in early October and disrupting cloud platforms across the country. [1][2]

Under new mandates from President Vladimir Putin, owners of non-state data centers must reserve 10% of their computing capacity for emergency state needs. Operators will have 24 hours to comply once a newly formed government commission orders the capacity released, while Russia's Digital Development Ministry inventories commercial capacity and floor space nationwide. The Kremlin has also authorized the possible temporary use of foreign data centers, provided the facilities secure approval from the Federal Security Service. [1][2]

To safeguard future infrastructure against aerial bombardment, state-owned telecom provider Rostelecom has discussed relocating server operations into underground mining spaces with nickel and palladium producer Norilsk, according to Russian newspaper Vedomosti. Other regional proposals include constructing facilities inside open-pit coal mines disguised beneath public parks. [1]