Russian President Vladimir Putin has convened senior officials for a cybersecurity meeting as Ukrainian drone strikes hit data centres operated by two of the country's biggest technology and financial companies, exposing the risks facing Russia's increasingly important digital infrastructure.
The Kremlin said the meeting on Wednesday, 14 October, would address broader cybersecurity threats, including the potential weaponisation of artificial intelligence (AI). However, it denied that the gathering had been called in response to the recent attacks on data centres belonging to Yandex and Sberbank.
The strikes have nevertheless raised questions about the resilience of Russia's technology infrastructure, which supports online services, cloud computing and the country's ambitions to develop domestic AI systems.
Putin's Cybersecurity Meeting Focuses on AI Threats
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said cybersecurity was becoming an increasingly important issue as countries developed more advanced technologies.
'Artificial intelligence technologies bring many benefits and advantages, boosting efficiency,' Peskov told reporters, according to Reuters. He warned that attempts by states to weaponise these technologies could threaten entire sectors of national economies. Russia, he added, needed to prepare for such challenges.
The meeting brought together government ministers, senior security officials, Sberbank chief executive German Gref and Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina.
Peskov rejected suggestions that the discussions were directly connected to the recent drone attacks, describing the gathering as a broader, systemic meeting rather than a response to specific incidents.
Ukrainian Drone Strikes Hit Yandex and Sberbank Data Centres
The meeting came after Ukrainian drone strikes targeted four Russian data centres: three operated by technology company Yandex and one belonging to Sberbank, Reuters reported.
Yandex, often described as Russia's answer to Google, operates a broad range of digital services, including search, email, cloud computing, ride-hailing, food delivery and AI products.
Damage to its facilities has disrupted services used by consumers and businesses. The company's cloud infrastructure also supports thousands of customers, meaning outages can affect organisations beyond Yandex's own applications.
Earlier reports described serious damage at several Yandex facilities, including a site in Sasovo where operations were halted. Other affected centres were located in the Kaluga region and near Vladimir.
The latest attack also targeted a major Sberbank data centre in Balakovo. Sberbank said its systems and services continued operating normally after the incident, according to Reuters.
Neither Yandex nor Sberbank has publicly confirmed whether the attacks damaged the supercomputers used to train their AI models.
Why Russia's Data Centres Matter for AI
The attacks have drawn attention to the physical infrastructure underpinning Russia's AI ambitions.
Data centres house the servers and computing equipment required to run cloud services and train large AI models. Supercomputers can require substantial processing power, making advanced chips and reliable facilities particularly important for developers.
Yandex develops its YandexGPT models, while Sberbank has invested in its competing GigaChat system. Both companies are central players in Russia's domestic AI market.
However, Russian developers face challenges obtaining advanced computing hardware because of Western sanctions and restrictions on technology exports. Sberbank executives have previously said these limitations contribute to the gap between Russian AI development and leading US and Chinese competitors.
Damage to computing facilities could therefore create additional obstacles if critical equipment needs lengthy repairs or replacement. The extent of any impact on AI development remains unclear.
Russia Considers How to Protect Critical Infrastructure
The Kremlin has also acknowledged the practical difficulties caused by the disruption at Yandex. On Tuesday, Peskov said the government was discussing the company's problems but that it was too early to assess whether users had suffered financial losses because of service outages.
Russia's digital development ministry has separately said it was discussing data centre protection with the military. Some Russian lawmakers have suggested moving facilities underground to reduce their vulnerability to drone attacks.
Putin signed a decree in August giving the state powers to take control of critically important infrastructure deemed inadequately protected against drone attacks, Reuters reported.
The latest incidents highlight a growing challenge for Russia: protecting the physical systems that support everyday digital services and its ambitions to compete in artificial intelligence.
Although the Kremlin insists Putin's cybersecurity meeting was not convened specifically because of the attacks, the incidents have brought the security of Russia's data infrastructure into sharper focus.
