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RIGA, Latvia — The Kremlin on Friday declined to comment on the recent installation of air defense systems in several locations in and around Moscow as Russia seeks to fill gaps in its defenses, apparently fearing Ukraine will launch a bold and could launch a humiliating attack on the country Russian capital.
According to independent Russian-language media, Russia has deployed Pantsir-S1 air defense systems on two government buildings in Moscow, including the Ministry of Defense on Frunzenskaya Embankment and a district education ministry building on Teterinsky Lane.
Photos of the distinctive air defense system have been posted on social media.
Other air defense systems have been installed at several other locations in or near Moscow, including in the Odintsovo district, about six miles from President Vladimir Putin’s residence in Novo-Ogaryovo outside the capital, according to Russian media outlet Sirena, which released videos and still images.
Russian military analyst Ruslan Leviev of the Conflict Intelligence Team, an independent group that analyzes open-source information, reported that an S-400 air defense system is to be installed at Losiny Island Park outside Moscow, where trees have been cleared in recent days . Leviev spoke on Popular Politics, a YouTube channel linked to jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
When asked on Friday whether the Kremlin feared airstrikes on Moscow, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov forwarded inquiries to the Russian Defense Ministry. “You are responsible for ensuring the security of the country in general and the capital in particular, so it is better to ask the Defense Ministry about any measures that are being taken,” Peskov said.
The Russian Defense Ministry rarely responds to questions from Western media and did not respond to an emailed question on Friday. The range of the Pantsir-S1 defense system would cover much of central Moscow, including the Kremlin.
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The positioning of the weapons follows criticism by Russian analysts of gaps in Russia’s air defenses after at least four Ukrainian attacks on military airfields deep in Russia’s interior last month, three of which targeted Engels Air Base near Saratov, where Russia has long-range strategic bomber bases . Another hit the Diagilevo air base near Ryazan, about 114 miles south-east of Moscow.
“It seems they are drawing conclusions from the fact that Ukrainian drones flew far behind into bases like those in Diagilevo and Engels,” Leviev said. “Apparently, because of this fear, and because of Vladimir Putin’s fear of missile attacks in general, they decided to strengthen Moscow’s defenses in this way, because they understand very well that with such leaky Russian air defenses along the border, apparently, Ukrainian drones can do it theoretically also reach Moscow.”
December’s attacks demonstrated Kiev’s ability to penetrate deep into Russian territory as Ukraine continues to struggle to regain territory lost during the full-scale invasion of Moscow.
The airstrikes in Russia followed a series of other surprise Ukrainian attacks that have humiliated Moscow, including the bombing of a bridge connecting Crimea to Russia, attacks on Crimea’s Saki airbase and the sinking of the warship Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Russia is beefing up the defenses of its capital, while Putin has prepared the Russian public for a long, difficult war against Ukraine and an ongoing confrontation with NATO.
Putin has placed Russia’s economy on a war footing, demanding that corporations serve the war effort, and has increasingly militarized Russian society, ramping up propaganda efforts to shore up support for the war amid mounting frontline casualties and swirling rumors about a possible second, unpopular mass mobilization.
Since the invasion began, Putin has crushed his political opposition, and Russia has quashed opposition to the war by banning protests, restricting freedom of expression and jailing critics.
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On Tuesday, Putin ordered an increase in Russia’s military strength by more than 350,000 men – to a total of 1.5 million – although it is far from clear whether the country can muster enough volunteer contract soldiers to accomplish this goal.
With winter slowing their advance, Russian and Ukrainian forces are reportedly each preparing new offensives, setting the stage for what could be a pivotal phase of the war in the coming months.
The sight of anti-aircraft missiles in central Moscow is another sign that war is returning to normal in Russian life.
As the invasion drags on, officials, including Putin, are increasingly labeling it a “war” waged by NATO against Russia and characterizing it without evidence as an existential struggle for survival against greedy Western powers determined to destroy the dismember and devour Russian nation.
After the attacks on two Russian air bases in early December, Russian military historian Yuri Knutov, the director of the Air Defense Forces Museum, told state television that Russia left holes in its air defense system when it sent much of its military equipment to Ukraine.
“Gaps have formed in our air defense system. American satellites can see these gaps well. I don’t doubt it, and the specialists don’t doubt it,” Knutov warned at the time.
Prominent Russian military blogger Alexander Kots, a journalist for the pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, wrote on his Telegram channel that the installation of air defense systems in the capital is a positive sign and demonstrates that the Russian authorities “understand that strikes against Moscow and the region are a matter of time.”
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Leviev said the newly installed air defense systems are a last resort should a missile or drone manage to evade Russia’s outer air defenses to reach Moscow. Without the war, he added, such systems would be positioned far from Moscow, “but Russia is a warlike country now, and drones are coming to Russia, so that’s quite to be expected.”
As Western officials considered sending heavy battle tanks to Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday warned that nuclear powers like Russia could not lose wars and he threatened that Western efforts to support Kiev could trigger a nuclear war War. It was the latest in a series of nuclear threats by senior Russian officials.
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