Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Russia’s largest bank, Sber, confirmed that a drone attack was carried out against the company’s data center in Balakovo, Saratov region. Vedyakhin made the statement to journalists in Moscow.
“We confirm that our data center was attacked. Nevertheless, all of Sber’s systems and services are operating normally,” Vedyakhin said.
Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said a drone attack had targeted the city of Balakovo in the morning, adding that, according to preliminary information, one person was killed.
Busargin did not confirm that the Sber facility was the target, saying infrastructure in the region was operating normally and that several homes were damaged in the attacks. Sber began building the Balakovo data center in 2021; the 55,000-square-meter facility, with a planned investment of 122.2 billion rubles, is due to be completed in 2030. Russian state media had reported that the country’s largest supercomputer, expected to go into operation in 2027, would be housed there.
Yandex data centers also damaged
Yandex had announced that its data center in Sasovo, Ryazan region, was damaged in a drone attack on October 8, while its data center in the city of Vladimir was damaged in an attack on October 11. The company said operations at both centers had come to a complete halt.
The company also announced that its data center in Kaluga region was damaged in an attack on October 9, leaving part of its infrastructure unusable.
Following the attacks, some of Yandex’s services experienced disruptions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on October 13 that the government was addressing the matter and that the company was working to mitigate the consequences of the attacks.
