“The movement of the S-300/400s is not merely a redeployment of forces. The multi-layered structure that Russia has built has been significantly undermined, the [Anti-Access/Area Denial] A2/AD bubble that has been responsible for strategic deterrence against NATO has shrunk, and surface-to-air air defense in the Bastion strategy has been weakened, forcing a transformation of the defense structure,” it adds.

Katarzyna Zysk, a professor with the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies, told Radio Liberty that thinned-out defenses in the far north suggest Moscow does not anticipate imminent escalations in the region.

“It suggests that Russia does not anticipate an imminent large-scale attack in the [far north] region and judges that it can reduce protection there without incurring unacceptable risk,” Zysk said.

  • pluggerslugs@piefed.social
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    1 day ago

    Another comparison near the Saratov oil refinery showed an abundance of air defense systems in August 2025, where the same patch was largely empty in satellite images from May 2023.

    The fact that the Saratov oil refinery got hit a week ago is even funnier now.

  • Glowstick@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Putin can move the air defense systems away from there because he and everyone else has always known that NATO is a defensive organization.