The russian army has withdrawn its S-300V air defense missile systems that had been deployed on the Iturup and Kunashir (Jap.: Etorofu and Kunashiri) islands of the Kuril Islands archipelago, on the eastern edge of its lands, Mainichi Shimbun reports, based on analysis of satellite images.
These air defense systems had protected the nearby military assets from hostile aviation or potential missile attacks. The "cover group" of forces consisted of the 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division, the Yasnyi air base with Su-35 fighters permanently deployed on it, and Bastion-P anti-ship missile systems – the practice of the russo-Ukrainian War has shown the latter can also be used for attacks on land targets.
Read more: russia Deploys its Kuril Islands Garrison Unit to Fight in Ukraine – Forbes
Notably, these forces were deployed in the Kuril Islands over the few recent years to reinforce the grip on the occupied Japanese territories. As a reminder, the United States, the EU, and Ukraine have recognized them as illegally controlled by the USSR, later russia, since 1945.
However, by moving off the S-300V systems, as Japanese experts believe, in order to send them to the Ukrainian frontlines, russia not just admitted it has to scrape the bottom of the barrel all over the country to find more air defense systems and keep waging war on Ukraine but also left all the military bases open to missile attacks.
The thing is, the S-300V system is not simply an anti-aircraft but an anti-missile defense system as well. Without its cover, the entire defense infrastructure crumbles, so it would be natural to expect all other components to gradually leave their positions in the shortly, too.
"A large number of old tanks and howitzers" has already been taken from storage facilities on Sakhalin to be sent to Ukraine, the expert speculates.
From a strategic perspective, the russians are decreasing their military presence on the occupied territory to nominal, and it doesn't seem they will be able to get back to the 2020 levels any soon.
Read more: Neither S-300 Nor Pantsir-S1 Prevented a Devastating Strike on russian Air Base in Kursk
