Personal Rocket System Now Protects Putin And His Closest Entourage

The Kremlin head is afraid of Ukrainian drones.

The Russian edition of Agenstvo has learned who is the most probable target for protection by Pantsir-S1 SAM systems. They have recently been noticed on buildings in central Moscow and a short distance away from the Rublevskoye Highway near Moscow, where the Russian elite live. These air defense systems protect President Vladimir Putin and his family personally from a likely Ukrainian strike. Such a conclusion rises after an air defense installation near the Valdai residence of the president. There are no other objects to protect here, except the residence.

A resident Valdai, the Novgorod region, provided the editorial office with a photo taken in the village of Yashcherovo last week. The picture shows an air defense system installation, which, according to the photo's author, was deployed in the settlement "several weeks ago". The photo probably shows a Pantsir-S1 complex. Similar ones have recently been noticed in the center of Moscow and the Moscow region.

The phrase "several weeks ago" may indicate that the air defense system appeared in Yashcherovo shortly after Ukrainian drones attacked Russian military airfields inland - the first attack on air bases near Ryazan and in Engels, Saratov Region, was on December 5.

The publication talked to the author of the photo and verified the authenticity of the information. Residents of Yashcherovo and neighboring villages, contacted by the Agentvo, confirmed the location of the air defense complex in Valdai. One of the interlocutors says that the complex is on station, at least three servicemen are constantly near it and the radar antenna rotates.

Yashcherovo is one of the two villages closest to the Presidential residence, situated on the shore of a local lake called Uzhin. It is just over six kilometers in a straight line from Yashcherovo to the presidential residence.

The Valdai residence of Putin, although called an official residence, has almost no representational functions. It is better known as a place for personal recreation of Putin, his relatives and friends. According to numerous testimonies, celebrities used to come there for Putin's private parties. There, Putin often meets with VIP guests behind closed doors. Two of Putin's friends told Proekt earlier that Putin comes to Valdai very often: "He loves" this place.

People close to Putin, such as FGS officers and heads of the Presidential Administration, have settled in Yashcherovo on a permanent basis.

There is no critical infrastructure, strategic facilities, large-scale enterprises, or large concentrations of military equipment and personnel in the area. Moreover, this area has had stationary air defense facilities since the Soviet times - the 42nd antiaircraft missile regiment stationed in the village of Valdai-4. For some time in the 90s, the regiment's base was in decline, but since the end of the 2010's anti-aircraft regiment was equipped with new weapons and the territory was landscaped. There was a report about the service of anti-aircraft gunners.

Last week, a photo and video of the Panzir-S1 SAM system mounted on the administrative building in Teterinsky Lane, near the Taganskaya metro station a few kilometers from the Kremlin appeared in social networks. Another installation was spotted on the roof of the Ministry of Defense building on Frunzenskaya Embankment. One could see it in the photo on December 25, Mediazona wrote. The Siren telegram channel posted two videos of Pantsir from the Moscow Region: one shows the complexes two kilometers from the Ostafievo business aviation airfield, located south of Moscow, and the other shows Pantsir-S1 near the village of Zarechye, Odintsovo urban district of the Moscow Region, 10 kilometers from Vladimir Putin's residence in Novo-Ogarevo.

The Pantsir S-1 air defense system is designed, among other things, to defend against drones.