The Pantsir-S1 systems are designed to counter short-range cruise missiles and drones, suggesting their deployment close to home could be a response to increasingly bold drone attacks in Ukraine.
As Ukraine has become more aggressive in attacking targets inside Russia, Moscow has secretly stepped up security around President Vladimir Putin’s state residence north of Moscow.
Satellite images reveal that several Pantsir-S1 air defense systems have been installed around the presidential residence on Lake Valdai in the Novgorod region.
The Valdai residence could be a high-profile target, as Putin is known to spend time there during the summer. The luxury property is located within a large state holiday resort in the Valdai National Park, on a peninsula between two lakes. Access to the entire complex is strictly restricted – the 40-hectare area is surrounded by water on three sides and closed off from the rest of the park.
According to Radio Liberty, satellite imagery shows that a Russian-made Pantsir-S1 drone was moved to the region between last September and May of this year, at a time when Ukraine has become more capable of developing and using drones capable of reaching the interior of Russia.
Satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies show air defenses strategically placed in the area, including a tower deep in the jungle a few kilometers from the compound.
The Pantsir-S1 systems are designed to combat short-range cruise missiles and drones, suggesting their deployment close to home could be a response to increasingly bold drone attacks in Ukraine.
CNN has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment, but has not received a response.
A satellite image from Maxar Technologies shows an air defense system near Vladimir Putin’s summer residence. Maxar Technologies
Recently, Kiev has been allowed to use Western weapons to attack Russia across the border, but this is limited to military targets close to the border with the Kharkiv region of Ukraine that support the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
In the event of any deeper attack, Ukraine will have to resort to its own weapons. Drones are an important part of the strategy.
Ukraine’s drone program has grown significantly since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. What began as an effort to modify cheap, off-the-shelf drones for surveillance has morphed into the development of long-range, unmanned strike weapons capable of reaching hundreds of kilometers beyond Ukraine’s borders.
So far this year, Kyiv has claimed that Ukrainian drones have sunk or seriously damaged several Russian warships in the Black Sea and caused damage to the Kerch Strait bridge between Russia and Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
The Ukrainian military has also been able to destroy fuel depots, military targets and energy infrastructure farther afield. In April, its drones struck the Nizhnekamsk oil refinery — one of Russia’s five largest — in the Tatarstan region, more than 1,100 kilometres (700 miles) from the border. Last month, the Ukrainian military claimed to have destroyed one of Russia’s newest and most advanced fighter jets, the Sukhoi Su-57, in a drone strike some 600 kilometres behind the front lines.
“Ukrainian drone strikes deep inside Russia continue to put pressure on Russian air defense and are forcing the Russian military leadership to prioritize the allocation of limited air defense assets to cover what it considers high-value targets,” the Institute for Strategic and International Warfare (ISW, in its original acronym) said in a study. Thought Center The US, in a battlefield update on Wednesday, noted Russia’s decision to transfer Pantsir-S1 systems.
The resort’s history as a vacation destination for top Russian officials dates back to the time of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who had a summer house built in the area, according to the Russian Presidential Property Management Administration, the body that runs the holiday complex. Nikita Khrushchev and Boris Yeltsin also spent time at the residence, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
*Allegra Goodwin contributed to this article.
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