Finland spots Russia redeploying air defense systems from St. Petersburg to its war on Ukraine

The Finnish public broadcaster YLE reports.

Satellite images indicate that mobile fire platforms and missiles disappeared in the summer from a base in the Zelenogorsk region of the Karelian Isthmus, northwest of St. Petersburg.

The transfer of equipment was not previously publicly reported either in Russia or in Western countries. However, it is known that St. Petersburg is the second most important city in Russia and therefore was surrounded by a protective ring of 14 anti-aircraft missile bases. Now several of them are empty.

"According to the pictures, four anti-aircraft bases were emptied of equipment," Major Marko Eklund, retired military expert, told YLE.

Eklund, who has been monitoring the Russian military for more than 20 years, analyzed the satellite images at Yle's request. This map shows anti-aircraft missile batteries around St. Petersburg, which is 170 km from the Finnish border.

In addition to the completely emptied bases, anti-aircraft missile equipment was moved from other bases around St. Petersburg in the summer, most likely to Ukraine. According to Eklund, the transfer of equipment is unlikely to significantly weaken the St. Petersburg air defense system, since the seized weapons are the oldest part of it, so Russia may no longer need them for defensive purposes. On the other hand, in the war with Ukraine, even old anti-aircraft missiles still have a use, since Russia lacks modern high-precision weapons at the front.

YLE received most of the satellite images from commercial operators, supplementing them with images from the Google Earth Pro program. These images were taken in August and September. The most obvious changes can be seen southwest of St. Petersburg, in the direction of Estonia.

Two images below show that all missile platforms have been removed from the missile battery near the village of Kerstovo. The first image shows a row of 12 of them in the upper right corner. The first photo is dated 2021, the last - the beginning of September 2022.

Only two of the regiment's four batteries remained in place. In addition, images obtained by Yle show that about 25 missile containers, possibly containing 100 missiles, were removed from one of the two remaining batterie