Russia's data-center reserve rule puts 10% of capacity on 24-hour call

Russia is requiring covered data-center owners to reserve 10% of their existing space and capacity and make that reserve available within one day of a government subcommission's decision. The requirement comes from a November 2 presidential decree, with a ten-day period to establish the reserve.

The distinction for operators is that reserved resources can remain in use. The measure creates an obligation to provide capacity when called upon, rather than an instruction to switch off one-tenth of a facility immediately. That combination of continued operation and rapid availability is the central commercial issue in the new rule.

Which owners are covered

The full text of Decree 802 applies to data centers located in Russia, with exclusions defined by the legal status of their owners. It excludes federal, regional and local government bodies, state and municipal unitary enterprises, and state and municipal institutions.

Those categories should not be simplified into a blanket exemption for every company with state ownership. The decree lists particular legal forms. Nor does its text provide a general exemption simply because a business uses a facility for its own systems rather than selling hosting services.

For an operator, the first question is therefore whether its ownership structure falls within the listed exclusions. The second is what space and capacity the obligation covers. The text uses both concepts and does not reduce the requirement to a percentage of revenue or customer contracts.

A reserve that can still be used

Paragraph one expressly permits data centers to continue using the reserved resources. It then requires those resources to be provided within a day of the relevant subcommission decision to support the functioning of information resources in Russia.

This creates two separate deadlines: the initial ten-day reservation period and the one-day response after an individual decision. The latter is not a recurring daily transfer, and the decree does not say that all operators must surrender their reserve on the same date.

The operational implication is a need to reconcile ongoing use with readiness to release resources. Whether a particular customer would have to move depends on the facility's allocation and the implementing decisions. The decree alone does not establish that any named customer has been disconnected or that an operator has already lost revenue.

Charges will be subject to a ceiling

Paragraph two says payment for providing reserved space and capacity under a subcommission decision cannot exceed the maximum charge set by that body. The decree does not publish a ruble tariff or a method for calculating the ceiling.

It therefore establishes a pricing constraint without supplying enough information to calculate an operator's financial exposure. A 10% capacity reservation cannot be translated directly into a 10% revenue loss. Utilization, the resources actually requested, the duration of their use and the eventual payment terms would all matter.

Implementation extends beyond server space

The government must establish the subcommission and approve its decision-making procedures. The Digital Development Ministry is instructed to inventory free space and capacity at covered facilities and approve mandatory reliability and continuity requirements for owners of information resources.

The decree also permits temporary use of computing capacity outside Russia through a subcommission decision coordinated with the Federal Security Service. It does not create an unrestricted authorization to relocate systems abroad.

The text entered into force upon official publication. Its immediate significance is a new obligation over the availability and pricing of part of the data-center estate. Detailed implementation must establish how that obligation is applied in individual facilities; the decree itself supplies neither a market-wide cost estimate nor evidence of completed transfers.