Yandex service disruptions block some Russians from payments, music accounts
Ukrainian strikes on data centers in Russia have interrupted daily life for everyday citizens, blocking access to bank accounts, disrupting car-share services and smart-home controls. NBC News reported that the strikes, which hit data centers including Yandex — the country’s biggest internet services company — happened in early October.
Yandex is similar to Google in the United States: it provides a variety of technical and internet-based products and services to a large share of Russians. Yandex Pay, a digital payment service akin to Google Pay and Apple Pay, was among the services affected, and some people were prevented from carrying out financial transactions, according to the reports.
Andrei, a journalist from Moscow, told The Moscow Times that he was not able to log in to his Yandex Pay or Yandex Music accounts, though he received an alert that the account paid for his Yandex Music subscription. “It’s a good thing I use another bank’s card for most of my payments,” he said.
Irina, a blogger from St. Petersburg who identified herself by that name, told NBC News that all her money had become inaccessible because of the data center strikes. She said she was not able to pay rent or pay for food for herself and her child for four days.