A new data center that opened in Armenia, with Western equipment and technology, is unnecessary for the country's needs, and increasing its capacity may cause an electricity shortage in Armenia, said the deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, Aleksey Shevtsov.

“This civilian facility is clearly unnecessary for Armenia's domestic needs, since the OVIO data center, owned by Rostelecom [company of Russia], has been operating in the country since 2024, which fully covers the needs of commercial and state institutions in terms of data storage,” the deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council told reporters, commenting on the opening of an artificial intelligence data center of the Firebird AI company, powered by NVIDIA processors, in Hrazdan, Armenia.

Shevtsov drew attention to the plans of the Firebird company, which plans to increase the capacity of the Hrazdan complex to 300 MW by the end of 2027, which “is nearly a quarter of the load [i.e. 1.3 GW] on Armenia’s power system during the winter period.”

“Thus, by calculating the announced plans, additional energy capacity will be required [in Armenia] to maintain the [aforesaid] center’s operation,” added the deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council.

In Shevtsov’s view, “amid growing needs, including the strengthening of the data center, Armenia may face a serious electricity deficit, which will inevitably affect [the country’s] ordinary citizens.”