Armenian AI factory rejects Russian allegations of intelligence gathering
Firebird AI rejects Russian espionage allegations
“Claims circulating about Firebird AI’s activities are untrue and have no factual basis,” the Armenia-based company Firebird AI said in response to remarks by Alexei Shevtsov, deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council.
On 8 August 2026, Firebird AI opened the first AI factory in the city of Hrazdan. It is the largest data centre in the region and plans to expand its operations further. The facility already uses more than 6,000 NVIDIA Blackwell B200/B300 graphics processing units (GPUs). By the end of 2027, the company plans to deploy more than 70,000 NVIDIA Blackwell and Vera Rubin chips. The project has received around $500 million in initial investment. Total investment could reach $4 billion or more.
The Russian official claimed that this powerful data centre could be used for espionage: “Such centres could support analytical and intelligence operations on behalf of Western intelligence agencies, including against Iran, Russia and countries in the South Caucasus and Central Asia.”
This is not the first time Alexei Shevtsov has criticised projects under way in Armenia. Around the same time, he also expressed concern about the Armenian-American TRIPP initiative, known as the “Trump Route”, which aims to unblock regional transport links. According to Shevtsov, the project could lead to the deployment of US private military companies and intelligence infrastructure in Armenia.
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“The computing capacity is used exclusively for civilian purposes”
Firebird AI said its AI factory is a technology company that develops and operates high-performance computing infrastructure.
“The US export licence issued to the company restricts the use of the relevant computing capacity exclusively to civilian purposes.”
Firebird AI’s management said the Russian Security Council deputy secretary’s claims showed a lack of understanding of how AI computing infrastructure operates.
“The geographical location of these services does not, in itself, determine the nature or purpose of their use.”
What concerns Russia
Alexei Shevtsov said that Firebird AI’s US jurisdiction could allow US intelligence agencies to access all the data stored on its servers.
“This means that data belonging to Armenian government agencies, companies and citizens could become accessible to the United States without the consent of the Armenian authorities.”
However, the main concern centres on the possibility that the data centre could gather intelligence. This could allegedly affect not only Russia’s interests but also those of Iran, for example.
The Russian Security Council representative then turned to Armenia’s energy capacity.
“According to announced plans, Firebird intends to increase the capacity of its Hrazdan complex to 300 MW by the end of 2027. This represents almost a quarter of Armenia’s winter peak electricity demand of 1.3 GW. The announced plans will require additional generating capacity to keep the centre running.”
This issue concerns Russia because Armenia plans to build a new nuclear power plant, and Russia hopes to secure the contract. Russia built the existing Metsamor nuclear power plant. Against this backdrop, Shevtsov questioned the need to diversify Armenia’s partnerships in the nuclear energy sector.
Armenia may instead opt for the small modular reactors that the United States has offered, as previously discussed. In that case, Shevtsov said:
“I would like to emphasise that the United States has not built and is not building any small modular reactors abroad. Meanwhile, Rosatom is currently building 30 power units abroad, including small modular reactors. The choice, as they say, is obvious.”
Firebird AI rejects Russian espionage allegations
