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

Russia has ordered owners of private data centers to reserve 10% of their capacity for the state, under a decree President Vladimir Putin signed on Nov. 2, 2026, according to Reuters.

The reserved share stays with its owner for normal use, UNITED24 Media reported, citing the outlet Astra. A government commission to be set up under the decree can order it released, and operators must provide access within 24 hours of that decision, Reuters said. Meduza reported that the decree is already in force and that owners have 10 days to comply. Putin also told the Digital Development Ministry to inventory free capacity and floor space at privately owned facilities nationwide.

Why a 10% reserve matters for a colocation market: the rule turns a slice of every commercial hall into a standing claim by the state, without naming a price in the reports available so far. UNITED24, citing Astra, said access will be paid for, with prices capped at a level the subcommission sets. Neither Reuters nor Meduza gives a figure, so operators and tenants cannot yet price the cost of holding capacity idle or the revenue they would lose when the call comes.

What the decree changes

The decree gives the state three tools. The first is the reserve itself: 10% of available space and capacity at non-state data centers, per Reuters and Meduza. The second is the inventory, which the Digital Development Ministry must run, and which UNITED24 said also covers requirements for reliable, uninterrupted operation. The third is foreign capacity: Russian information resources may use data centers outside Russia temporarily, but only with approval from the FSB security service, per Reuters. Meduza adds that the commission itself decides, with FSB consent.

Meduza quoted the decree's stated reason: the need for urgent measures "in response to unfriendly actions by certain foreign states."

The strikes behind it

Drones have hit Russian data centers in recent weeks. Reuters named facilities run by Yandex and Sberbank, and Meduza added VK. UNITED24 said strikes on three Yandex data centers disrupted cloud services, data storage and databases. Voltgrid reported earlier that drones reportedly hit a Russian Federal Tax Service data center in Gorodets, a state site rather than a commercial one, where damage was unconfirmed. The new decree addresses the commercial side of that exposure by giving the state a claim on spare capacity elsewhere.

What is not confirmed yet

The decree text itself was not available to Voltgrid. The reports above rely on Reuters, Meduza and Astra's reading of it, and they describe the body that orders release differently, as a commission and as a subcommission. The price cap, the commission's membership and the inventory deadline have not been reported. Neither Yandex nor Sberbank had commented on the decree in the coverage Voltgrid reviewed.

The next dated step is the 10-day compliance window that Meduza reports, which would end around Nov. 12 if counted from the signing.