Russia is working on measures to protect data centers from drone attacks after a series of “unprecedented” strikes on tech giant Yandex’s facilities, Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said Monday.
“Yandex faced an unprecedented attack. The Digital Development Ministry, together with the Defense Ministry, is working on the issue of protecting these facilities,” Shadayev told a State Duma committee, according to Interfax.
He did not specify what protective measures were under consideration.
His comments follow drone attacks on three Yandex data centers in four days that have caused server outages that triggered service disruptions for users. The strikes hit facilities in the Ryazan, Kaluga and Vladimir regions between Thursday and Sunday.
The disruptions affected Yandex’s ride-hailing, food delivery and payment services, as well as companies that rely on Yandex Cloud, including online retailer Wildberries and fast-food chain Vkusno i Tochka.
Industry analysts told the Kommersant newspaper that replacing damaged server equipment could take up to six months.
Shadayev said backup systems and the distribution of computing capacity across multiple sites had helped services continue operating despite the scale of the attacks, adding that companies across the industry were helping address the disruptions.
Russian IT companies and mobile operators had begun buying mobile data centers even before this month’s attacks, the BBC’s Russian service reported. The outlet linked one supplier to a senior Federal Security Service (FSB) officer.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described the targeted attacks as retaliation to Russia’s recent missile strikes against Ukrainian server facilities in Kyiv.
Russia has conducted a strike campaign against Ukrainian data centers and telecommunications infrastructure over the past month, including targets in central Kyiv.
Last month, the exiled news outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe reported that a large stake in Yandex was controlled by people linked to Bank Rossiya and President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle following the sale of the company’s Russian business in 2024.
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