Russia Allows Use of Foreign Data Centers in Wake of Attacks

Russia will temporarily allow the use of data centers outside of its borders after a series of Ukrainian attacks that targeted tech giant Yandex’s facilities.

President Vladimir Putin issued a decree Monday permitting the use of computing capacity abroad subject to approval by a government subcommission and the Federal Security Service, also known as FSB.

The order also requires private data-center operators in Russia to keep 10% of their available capacity in reserve and instructs the Digital Ministry to conduct an audit of capacity at such facilities.

Ukrainian drones attacked three Yandex data centers in October, temporarily disrupting some services, including for businesses. Yandex, Russia’s biggest technology company, was also forced to move all three of its supercomputers to new sites, the state-run Tass news service reported late last month.

Read More: Ukraine Hits Third Russian Yandex Data Hub as US Pressure Mounts

Yandex provides a variety of consumer offerings including a search engine, ride hailing, e-commerce, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.