By Philip Butterworth-Hayes
Russia’s new agency TASS reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin “was not harmed and continues to work as usual” following an apparent drone attack against the Kremlin, which Russia reports as being launched by Ukraine. Ukraine denies it launched the strike. Images on social media show a drone being destroyed just a few metres away from the Kremlin rooftop.
The alleged attack came just a few months after Russia announced the deployment of a network of counter-UAS and larger air defence systems in and around Moscow. In January this year Pantsir missile systems were reportedly installed on the roof of an eight-story Russian defence ministry building and on other government buildings, including those used by the ministry of internal affairs and education. Russian media outlets also reported on the deployment of long-range S-400 missile systems in Moscow at the start of the year – one in Losiny Ostrov National Park (“Moose Island”) and the other in fields owned by the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy.
The Telegram channel Sirena posted a video which appeared to show a Pantsir battery in Zarechye, a village close to Moscow, 3 kilometers from President Vladimir Putin’s residence in Novo-Ogaryovo and in Voskresenskoye, another village near Moscow.
These large-scale air defence systems would unlikely to have been called into action against the small drone seen in social media posts. Over the last few months Russia has invested heavily in new generations of small, tactical C-UAS systems (https://www.unmannedairspace.info/counter-uas-systems-and-policies/russia-and-ukraine-rapidly-accelerate-c-uas-capabilities-in-face-of-new-drone-threats/ and if the attack were indeed a Ukrainian drone strike – the small drone would have had a range of more than 450 km unless it was launched within Russia – it would have been intercepted by one of these new, more agile C-UAS systems.
In March 2023. TASS reported that Russia’s latest tactical C-UAS system, the Serp-VS5 with the capability of detecting intruder drones across 360 degrees within a 5 km range and developed by the Vektor Research Institute, had been developed was about to be deployed on a large scale.
For more information
https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Europe/Kremlin-Deploys-Air-Defense-Systems-On-Rooftops-In-https://worldcrunch.com/focus/russia-deploying-air-defense-moscow
https://tass.com/defense/1589877
https://tass.com/defense/1612905
(Image:Shutterstock)
