A long time ago, one server room (located in the basement of the university building) of SPB-IX was flooded. It was a fun day for engineers whom unplugged survived equipment standing knee-deep in water
It was before dam (1) was built and floods were a huge problem in SPB
Yes, all of them comply to local laws. But point is Yandex repeatedly denied all accusation of working with government by saying "No, we didn't filter news, it's our algorithms decided this topic from top1 twitter trend is not important at all"
Turns out their "algorithms" was "where source in state_approved_media"
How much money did Europe paid to Putin for gas supply in last years? They are still paying him even now because they value cheap gas over human lives.
Don't try to play saint card, West is also responsible for sponsoring this bloodshed
It was never about surveillance (you already can't escape from cameras in Moscow).
They can (and will) use this system to restrict movement for "uncomfortable" persons — turnstile will not open for you if government do not like what you said in Twitter.