diff --git a/app/vmselect/netstorage/netstorage.go b/app/vmselect/netstorage/netstorage.go
index 452ad5eddd..e4ebc7ae5b 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/netstorage/netstorage.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/netstorage/netstorage.go
@@ -1319,9 +1319,21 @@ func (sn *storageNode) execOnConn(rpcName string, f func(bc *handshake.BufferedC
 	d := time.Unix(int64(deadline.Deadline()), 0)
 	nowSecs := fasttime.UnixTimestamp()
 	currentTime := time.Unix(int64(nowSecs), 0)
+	storageTimeout := *searchutils.StorageTimeout
+	if storageTimeout > 0 {
+		dd := currentTime.Add(storageTimeout)
+		if dd.Sub(d) < 0 {
+			// Limit the remote deadline to storageTimeout,
+			// so slow vmstorage nodes may stop processing the request.
+			// See https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/711 .
+			// The local deadline remains the same, so data obtained from
+			// the remaining vmstorage nodes could be processed locally.
+			d = dd
+		}
+	}
 	timeout := d.Sub(currentTime)
 	if timeout <= 0 {
-		return fmt.Errorf("request timeout reached: %s", deadline.String())
+		return fmt.Errorf("request timeout reached: %s or -search.storageTimeout=%s", deadline.String(), storageTimeout.String())
 	}
 	bc, err := sn.connPool.Get()
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/app/vmselect/searchutils/searchutils.go b/app/vmselect/searchutils/searchutils.go
index 084cb73935..aa9140fd5a 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/searchutils/searchutils.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/searchutils/searchutils.go
@@ -15,9 +15,15 @@ import (
 
 var (
 	maxExportDuration   = flag.Duration("search.maxExportDuration", time.Hour*24*30, "The maximum duration for /api/v1/export call")
-	maxQueryDuration    = flag.Duration("search.maxQueryDuration", time.Second*30, "The maximum duration for query execution")
+	maxQueryDuration    = flag.Duration("search.maxQueryDuration", time.Second*30, "The maximum duration for query execution; see also -search.storageTimeout")
 	denyPartialResponse = flag.Bool("search.denyPartialResponse", false, "Whether to deny partial responses if a part of -storageNode instances fail to perform queries; "+
-		"this trades availability over consistency; see also -search.maxQueryDuration")
+		"this trades availability over consistency; see also -search.maxQueryDuration and -search.storageTimeout")
+
+	// StorageTimeout limits the duration of query execution on every vmstorage node.
+	// See https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/711
+	StorageTimeout = flag.Duration("search.storageTimeout", 0, "The timeout for per-storage query processing; "+
+		"this allows returning partial responses if certain -storageNode instances slowly process the query; "+
+		"see also -search.maxQueryDuration and -search.denyPartialResponse command-line flags")
 )
 
 // GetTime returns time from the given argKey query arg.