Russia has tightened critical-infrastructure rules with a late-August decree from Vladimir Putin that lets the government temporarily take control of facilities if operators fail to protect them from drone threats. Russian reporting says data centers are now being pulled into that requirement, especially sites hosting government, bank, and major service-provider systems.
The shift is not just about adding defenses around buildings and power gear. If an operator cannot show adequate physical protection, the consequence can now be temporary state takeover, so the exposure is no longer limited to downtime or damaged equipment; it can include loss of operator control over the site itself.
That matters most for data centers concentrated around Moscow and St. Petersburg, where drone pressure is rising and much of Russia’s capacity sits. For readers outside Russia, the reporting is a warning about how wartime physical-security policy can turn into regulatory seizure when critical services are concentrated in a few facilities.