For the protection of only one of putin's residences, they built a network of Flakturms and deployed S-400s.
Despite the fairly reasonable thesis that the deeper into the rear of the russian federation, the less air defense there is, this does not apply to all of russia. Around one of putin's residences on Lake Valday, a huge concentration of air defense systems was observed.
Read more: Ukrainian Warriors Destroyed Two Pantsir-S1 SAM Systems Near Belgorod
Journalists from Nexta noticed this when they analyzed updated satellite images of the area published by Google. The images are dated April 2024 and cover the residence itself, as well as part of the surrounding territory.
However, according to Defense Express, the picture is incomplete because the image updates were only partial. This is only a partial view: the residence area is marked in red, and the updated satellite images are marked in white.
As a result, journalists from the publication were able to count only part of the air defense systems that now protect putin's residence in Valday. However, this is already enough to assess the scale, as there are eight Pantsir SAM systems and one S-400 position in this area alone. It is highly likely that this is only half.
At the same time, if the S-400 was deployed there earlier, given that the permanent base of the 42nd russian Air Defense Missile Regiment is nearby and has been receiving these new systems since 2022, then a real network for the Pantsirs was created.
We should note that they began creating it around December 2023, as evidenced by archived satellite images of much lower resolution from ESA. The images below show the S-400 position area and one of the Pantsir missile systems on November 3, 2023, before the work started, and on July 8, 2024.
This S-400 position was significantly expanded, receiving new buildings for calculations and a Flakturm for the Pantsir missile systems — a special structure designed to place the system at a height of several dozen meters.
Similar Flakturms were observed around putin's residence, with distances between them sometimes being only a few kilometers. However, as of April, not all of these structures were completed or equipped with air defense systems.
Given this, we can assume that the actual force deployment for the direct protection of this single residence of putin in Valday consists of 15-16 Pantsir missile systems positioned around the perimeter, as well as a full air defense missile regiment equipped with S-400s. This pertains only to air defense in this specific area, and it is possible that another air defense perimeter might exist at a distance of 20-50 km from Valday.
But even these air defense systems protecting putin's estate could be sufficient to defend roughly two Belgorods. Additionally, if such a powerful air defense zone were created around putin's estate in Valday, more than 600 km from Ukraine, it is likely that similar forces are deployed around other palaces and residences of the russian dictator and his closest allies.
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