Russia is accelerating efforts to relocate vital digital infrastructure hundreds of meters underground into abandoned mines and rock bunkers after sustained Ukrainian drone attacks exposed the vulnerability of surface computing facilities. Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported that state-backed telecommunications operator Rostelecom has opened discussions with mining firm Nornickel to construct data centers inside subterranean mine shafts. The physical fortification initiative gained urgency after long-range Ukrainian drones struck facilities belonging to Russian technology company Yandex and state lender Sberbank in Balakovo, alongside disruptions affecting social media platform VK and the Russian Ministry of Finance. In response to cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure emerging as primary military targets, the Russian Ministry of Digital Development approved guidelines in late October 2026 prioritizing underground or bunker installations, while the Kremlin issued emergency decrees compelling operators to allocate compute capacity for state reserves and clearing paths to use foreign facilities.
While Western governments including the United States and the European Union have primarily focused critical infrastructure policies on cybersecurity protocols, supply chains, and safe AI development frameworks, direct warfare has forced Russia to pivot toward extreme physical defenses. Proposals to relocate computing assets have expanded into unconventional engineering concepts utilizing disused industrial sites. During the Russian Energy Week event, Kemerovo Region Governor Ilya Seredyuk proposed installing server infrastructure within open-pit coal mines up to 300 meters deep, covering the surface with public parks to obscure facilities from aerial reconnaissance and bombardment. Valeriy Ermakov, senior vice president at Rostelecom, stressed the necessity of establishing resilient doomsday data centers to guarantee rapid recovery operations across any national emergency.
Despite the strategic imperative, underground construction presents steep economic and operational hurdles. Surface facilities generally require between 1.2 billion and 1.3 billion rubles per megawatt of IT capacity, but subterranean excavation and blast-resistant reinforcement can increase capital expenditures by 30 to 40 percent or more. Geography poses an equally difficult obstacle, as more than 85 percent of commercial data center capacity in Russia is concentrated around Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Shifting heavy compute workloads to remote Siberian or Arctic mines introduces sharp increases in network latency, acute shortages of technical personnel, and structural vulnerabilities such as groundwater flooding and seismic disruption. Over the coming six months, public agencies and commercial institutions will face substantial fiscal pressures as they navigate compliance with new bunker deployment directives and geographically diversified backup mandates.