Air-defense systems have been installed near the Moscow headquarters of the Innopraktika foundation, headed by Vladimir Putin’s daughter Katerina Tikhonova, RFE/RL’s Russian service reported, citing satellite imagery.
The Innopraktika office is several hundred meters from main Moscow State University building on Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills). An S-400 surface-to-air missile system and a 40V6MR universal mobile tower appeared at the site in May.
The installation is likely part of a new air-defense ring around central Moscow, RFE/RL’s Russian service reported. Several more launchers have appeared in Izmailovsky, Moskvoretsky, and Losiny Ostrov parks, and on the experimental fields of the Timiryazev Academy.
Placing an S-400 in the Vorobyovy Gory area makes practical sense regardless of the Innopraktika connection, RFE/RL’s Russian service said, because the site sits on high terrain, allowing radar to detect detect targets at greater range.
In April, RFE/RL’s Russian-language service reported that at least 27 active air-defense systems are positioned around Putin’s own residence at Valdai.
Moscow has come under more frequent Ukrainian drone attacks in recent weeks. The largest strike on the capital so far in the war came on June 18, when drones sparked a fire at the Moscow oil refinery — which is unlikely to resume operations before the end of this year — and struck the Sadovod market and the Mega Belaya Dacha shopping center.
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