Putin orders private Russian data centres to reserve 10% of capacity for state use

Private data centre owners in Russia will have to reserve 10% of their capacity under a decree signed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday, 2 November, Reuters reported. The requirement is intended to ensure that Russia's IT infrastructure continues operating without interruption. It applies to capacity at data centres outside state ownership.

The decree instructs Russia's Ministry of Digital Development to draw up an inventory of the capacity and space available at private data centres throughout the country. That inventory is part of the measures ordered alongside the requirement for operators to set aside a share of their capacity for state use.

A special government commission will be established under the decree, with authority to require operators to make their reserved capacity available. Once the commission issues such a decision, the operators concerned must provide access within 24 hours. The commission's powers therefore cover calling on the capacity that private owners are obliged to reserve.

The decree also provides for the temporary use of data centres outside Russia. Such use will require permission from the Federal Security Service, known as the FSB. This provision accompanies the requirements concerning private facilities within Russia and the ministry's task of identifying available domestic space and capacity.

The order follows a series of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian data centres in recent weeks. Facilities operated by Yandex and Sberbank were hit during October. The reported incidents included attacks affecting Yandex data centres in several locations, with the company announcing interruptions to operations at some of its facilities.

In one October incident, drones attacked Sasovo in Russia's Ryazan Oblast. A fire broke out at the Sasta plant, which houses the Yandex DC LLC data centre. Yandex's press service said the Sasovo centre had stopped operating entirely after a drone attack that morning.

Yandex subsequently reported another attack on 9 October, involving a data centre in Kaluga. That report concerned a different location from the Sasovo facility, where the company had announced a complete suspension of operations following the attack.

On 11 October, Yandex announced that operations had also been suspended at a data centre in Vladimir because of a drone attack. The Vladimir announcement was another of the October incidents preceding the decree signed on Monday.