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I can\u2019t log into my Yandex Pay account, but they\u2019re still charging me for a Yandex Music subscription that doesn\u2019t even work,\u201d he says.\nWhen he tried to log in, the app displayed a message that said \u201cSomething went wrong\u201d and asked him to try again later.\n\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing I use another bank\u2019s card for most of my payments,\u201d he says.\nYandex Pay is one of dozens of services whose operations have been disrupted by Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centers this month.\nFor many Russians, these outages have mostly meant temporary inconveniences and changes to their routines.\u00a0But in a year that has already seen widespread fuel shortages, airport closures and e-commerce disruptions due to the war, they are the latest way in which the Kremlin\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has seeped into everyday life.\nThe data-center strikes have disrupted everything from taxis and car-sharing services, food delivery and maps to email, banking and streaming platforms.\u00a0\nProblems also arose for state agencies and private firms whose products rely on Yandex infrastructure, from dating apps to access systems for residential complexes and smart homes.\n\u2018Far more serious than we expected\u2019\nConnectivity to the Yandex Cloud platform fell to around 30% of normal levels following the Oct. 8-11 strikes, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks. The disruptions affected 84 cloud services.\u00a0\nYandex confirmed serious damage to one data center, the shutdown of another and infrastructure disruptions at a third. It has not disclosed the full extent of the damage or given a timeline for recovery.\nIn addition, all three of Yandex\u2019s supercomputers were likely severely affected, which could set Russia back years in the AI race, the science news outlet T-Invariant said.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA young woman looks at her phone in Moscow.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVasily Kuzmichenok / Moskva News Agency \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t After a further strike hit a VK data center in St. Petersburg on Sunday, users also reported disruptions on social network VKontakte, including photos failing to load.\nAs of Monday, Yandex Pay remained only partially available. The error message had been replaced with a reassurance: \u201cYour money is safe. Some features are unavailable. Our engineers are working to get everything up and running again.\u201d\nThe Moscow Times reporter who wrote this article was still unable to access their full Yandex Taxi ride history on Monday.\nA senior data analyst at Yandex told The Moscow Times that the company had been preparing for data center outages even before this month\u2019s strikes.\n\u201cBut the scale turned out to be far more serious than we initially expected,\u201d and Yandex\u2019s rank-and-file employees were caught off guard, said the employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters.\n\u201cWe had to drop everything and focus on urgent problems with our services,\u201d he said. \u201cWe managed to mitigate some of the effects quickly by switching applications to limited functionality, while in other cases recovery took several days.\u201d\nHe said it could take much longer to fully restore services.\n\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone expects everything to be fully restored within a few days,\u201d the employee said.\nThe analyst declined to discuss how Yandex was preparing for further Ukrainian strikes, saying that disclosing those plans could create a vulnerability for the company.\nFrom bank accounts to court hearings\nWhile the economic damage and longer-term consequences of the strikes remain unclear, the immediate disruption has been manageable for many users.\nThe names of private individuals interviewed for this article have been changed for their safety.\nRobert, a barista in St. Petersburg, uses Yandex Pay as his main bank account. It\u2019s where he receives his salary and other transfers.\n\u201cI use it for payments 99% of the time,\u201d he said. \u201cLuckily, I had almost no money in my account when the outage happened. I\u2019d spent everything on big purchases shortly beforehand. So I wasn\u2019t too worried about losing it forever.\u201d\nHis access to his digital wallet was restored after several days. Hee said he has no plans to stop using Yandex.\n\u201cI always keep an alternative way to pay just in case \u2014 a little cash,\u201d he said. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The attack has nevertheless made him think about the war.\n\u201cIt\u2019s another reminder that the consequences of the war are getting closer to home \u2014 and growing in scale,\u201d he said.\nThe disruptions also reached Yandex users outside Russia.\nYekaterina, a Russian woman who moved to Georgia after the invasion of Ukraine, said Yandex Go, a taxi service widely used across former Soviet countries, was temporarily unavailable in Tbilisi.\nNikolai, a Russian doctoral student in New Zealand, said he was unable to use Yandex Archives to research his dissertation.\n\u201cThere weren\u2019t many sources there, but the search was really convenient. So I sat down to write a chapter, wanted to quote something, and the archive was gone!\u201d he said.\nThe data center strikes have also affected government agencies. The exiled news outlet Vyorstka reported that dozens of court hearings across Russia were disrupted due to technical problems.\nSome government websites in the Kaluga region also went offline, Sarkis Darbinyan, an IT lawyer and founder of digital rights organization RKS.global, told The Moscow Times. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYandex delivery robots stand in a robot parking area in Moscow.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tREUTERS / Shamil Zhumatov\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The outages have posed particular problems for small and medium-sized businesses whose products run on Yandex\u2019s infrastructure, especially its cloud platform, a Russian equivalent of Google Cloud.\nTatyana, the founder of fitness app FIT&ZEN, told customers that both the app and its web version were temporarily unavailable because of \u201ctechnical problems at a Yandex data center.\u201d\n\u201cA major Yandex outage has affected many companies across the country, so unfortunately we\u2019re not alone in this,\u201d she wrote on the company\u2019s Telegram channel.\nA strike on Yandex Cloud hits \u201cthousands of Russian companies at once,\u201d Darbinyan said.\n\u201cAfter the Kremlin pushed Google and all its cloud competitors out of the country, Yandex played a very important role in the Russian internet, even though it did not have a dominant share of the data center market,\u201d he said.\nThe greatest risks face customers that cut costs by keeping all their data in a single availability zone without backups elsewhere, he added. These include small and medium-sized businesses, regional media outlets and government agencies.\nCan Ukraine knock Russia\u2019s internet offline?\nDarbinyan said the vulnerabilities exposed by the strikes are rooted partly in the structure of Russia\u2019s internet and the rules governing where companies can store their data. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Earlier this month, the operator of Ukraine\u2019s Parkovyi data center moved copies of customers\u2019 data to backup sites in the European Union after it was hit by Russian strikes.\nBy comparison, Russian companies have little scope to do the same, Darbinyan said. Data localization laws and rules governing hosting, authentication services and critical information infrastructure require them to store data inside Russia.\nEven so, Darbinyan said it would be difficult to take Russia\u2019s internet completely offline by striking data centers.\nDespite the Kremlin\u2019s efforts to isolate it through its \u201csovereign internet\u201d policy, Russia\u2019s internet remains a vast network built along the same lines as the global internet. It encompasses more than 200 data centers, hundreds of telecom network nodes and corporate server rooms.\nIts greatest vulnerability is the concentration of commercial data center capacity in Moscow and nearby regions, with much of it owned by a handful of major companies: Yandex, VK, Rostelecom and Sberbank, he said.\nSerious disruptions at those companies can therefore affect services nationwide.\nNor will it be easy or quick to replace damaged infrastructure. Russia obtains almost all the necessary equipment through parallel imports, while the AI boom has driven up prices, Darbinyan said.\n\u201cIf strikes become regular, the market may simply not be able to keep up with replacing what\u2019s been lost,\u201d he said. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\tA Message from The Moscow Times:\n\tDear readers,\n\tWe are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an \"undesirable\" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a \"foreign agent.\"\n\tThese actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work \"discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership.\" We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.\n\tWe, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.\n\tYour support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.\n\tBy supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tContinue \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tNot ready to support today? 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