Russian Energy Ministry publishes draft decree banning digital mining in Moscow region, Kursk region

MOSCOW. June 26 (Interfax) - The Russian Energy Ministry has published a draft governmental decree banning mining of digital currencies, including participation in mining pools, in Moscow, the Moscow region and certain parts of the Kursk region.

The ban will be in effect from July 1, 2026 to December 31, 2032, the document reads.

Without a year-round ban, the territories in question are faced with the risk of an energy shortage due to energy-intensive mining facilities being connected to electricity networks, the explanatory note accompanying the draft decree says.

The ban was discussed by a governmental electricity committee in May. The Moscow Region Energy Ministry had previously proposed banning mining in the region. Sergei Voropanov, the region's energy minister, said in a speech at the Energy Industry 26 forum that mining accounted for an estimated 1GW of electricity consumption in Moscow's grid. The capacity of data centers in Moscow and the Moscow region could grow to 3.6 GW or 17% of the maximum load by 2032, he said, citing data.

A similar ban has been in place in several regions since 2025, including republics in the North Caucasus Federal District, the Donetsk People's Republic, the Lugansk People's Republic, the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions and certain districts of the Transbaikal territory and Buryatia until 2031, as well as a partial ban in the Irkutsk region.

In May, System Operator forecast that data centers in Russia would increase energy consumption over the next five years from the current 4.2 GW to 15.3 GW. Data centers will make up 2.4% of Russia's overall energy consumption in 2026.