Putin Orders Private Data Centers to Reserve 10% of Capacity for the State

In brief

• A Putin decree requires private data center owners in Russia to reserve 10% of their capacity for state use.
• A government commission can order the capacity released, with operators given 24 hours to comply.
• The decree also allows temporary use of foreign-based data centers with FSB approval.

State access to private data centers

President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree requiring owners of non-state data centers in Russia to hold back 10% of their capacity to help keep the country's IT infrastructure running (Putin Orders Private Data Centers to Set Aside 10% of Capacity to Support IT Infrastructure – The Moscow Times). The reserved space and power can be drawn on when needed to support the operation of Russian information resources (Путин обязал владельцев частных дата-центров резервировать десятую часть своих мощностей для государства – Meduza). A special government commission, to be set up under the decree, will decide when that capacity is released.

Operators' obligations and deadlines

Under the decree, operators must give access to the reserved capacity within 24 hours of a commission decision. Owners have 10 days to comply with the requirements, according to the document's text. The Digital Development Ministry has been ordered to take inventory of unused capacity and floor space at privately owned facilities across the country.

Foreign facilities and security review

The decree also permits temporary use of data centers located abroad, but only with approval from the FSB security service. The government justifies the measures by pointing to what it calls unfriendly actions by some foreign states.

Context: attacks on data centers

The decree follows Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian data centers in recent weeks, including strikes on facilities operated by Yandex and Sberbank in October. Meduza also reported that data centers of Yandex, Sberbank and VK were targeted by drones that month, and that Russian forces had earlier attacked data centers in Ukraine.