The Runet Blackout: Why a Single Power Outage Just Nuked Half the Internet
It seems the entirety of the Russian internet decided to take a nap today. A massive power failure at the legendary MMTS-9 facility turned into a digital domino effect, proving that building a global network on a single power grid is definitely a genius move.
On August 18, 2026, the venerable MMTS-9—the granddaddy of Russian internet exchange points—suffered a catastrophic power failure following an incident at a local power substation. What started as a local technical hiccup quickly evolved into a full-scale digital blackout, effectively severing the arteries of connectivity for millions.
Reg.ru, the massive domain registrar, was among the first to signal distress as their internal infrastructure became collateral damage. While the company was quick to point fingers at the MMTS-9 power supply, the fallout was far from localized. The crash triggered a massive drop in traffic across the entire MSK-IX exchange, with throughput nosediving to 3000 Gbps as banks, messengers, and even residential internet providers like Rostelecom and Lovit started gasping for air.
It is truly heartwarming to see how one single building, relying on a fragile power grid, remains the digital beating heart of a whole country. A masterclass in redundancy, really—who needs a distributed network when you have all your eggs in one rusty Soviet-era basket? Clearly, resilience is just a buzzword for people who don't appreciate the thrill of national-scale offline time.
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