Ukraine strikes prompt Russia to consider underground data centers

Russian technology companies are seeking ways to protect and conceal data centers after Ukrainian drone strikes damaged facilities containing AI supercomputers and interrupted cloud services used by millions of Russian customers. The attacks affected infrastructure operated by Yandex, Sberbank, VKontakte and the Russian Ministry of Finance, according to the report.

The developments follow months of Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and strikes against Ukrainian data centers since late September. Ukraine has responded with drone attacks on military and infrastructure targets in Russia. The Kremlin is also requiring data center operators to set aside computing capacity for emergency government use and has authorized the possible use of foreign facilities.

Rostelcom, a state-owned telecommunications company, has discussed moving some data centers underground with Norilsk, a nickel and palladium mining company, according to Vedomosti. Data Center Dynamics reported a separate proposal from a Russian regional governor to place data centers in open-pit coal mines and cover them with public parks as camouflage.