By Siranush Adamyan
Drone attacks on Yandex data centers in Russia disrupted services in Armenia on October 11, leaving users in Yerevan unable to book taxis or check public transport arrival times through the company’s app.
The outages affected a platform with a dominant position in Armenia’s taxi market and a wider presence in food delivery, courier services and navigation.
NEWS.am reported that its staff could not order taxis or use the app’s map on Sunday morning. Public transport arrival information was also unavailable. The app began gradually working again by 11 a.m., the outlet said.
Yandex confirmed that its data center in Vladimir was attacked overnight and that operations were halted. No one was injured, the company said.
It was the third attack on the company’s data centers in several days. A drone strike seriously damaged its facility in Sasovo, in Russia’s Ryazan region, on the night of October 7–8, forcing it to shut down. Another attack on October 9 put part of the infrastructure at its Kaluga center out of service.
Yandex Cloud warned clients that its remaining resources were unstable and advised them to activate alternative disaster recovery plans, Kommersant reported. Yandex said it could not yet give a timetable for restoring equipment at the affected centers.
The Insider reported, citing company statements and local media, that outages affected at least six countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Armenia.
A dominant platform in Armenia
In an interview with CivilNet last month, Yandex Armenia head Aram Mkhitaryan said the company offered about 13 services in Armenia, with taxis remaining its main business. Its activities also include food and parcel delivery, freight bookings, maps and navigation, advertising and portable charger rentals.
“About 10 percent of Armenia’s economically active population earns money through our platforms in one way or another,” he said.
Mkhitaryan said more than 100,000 people earned income through its platforms or related activities, including full-time and occasional drivers, couriers, order pickers and workers in restaurant jobs supported by delivery demand. Taxi drivers accounted for the largest share. The figure includes income earners and related jobs, not just direct Yandex employees.
He put the combined value of transactions across its Armenian services at the equivalent of 1.2–1.3 percent of Armenia’s GDP, a comparison of transaction volume with GDP, rather than a measure of its contribution to economic output.
Mkhitaryan said Yandex Go had about 1 million monthly active users in Armenia, while its public transport feature had about 700,000. The company receives vehicle-location data from Yerevan’s municipality to display public transport movements and calculate arrival times.
Asked whether Yandex was approaching a monopoly position, he acknowledged its market dominance.
“We have a dominant position in the market, which brings considerable responsibility and also certain restrictions,” he said.
Mkhitaryan said Armenia’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission continuously monitored the company. The commission reported in September that work with Yandex Go had led to restrictions on surge pricing and changes to commissions during periods of high demand.
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