Is Russia preparing for an escalation of the conflict? Air defense systems were installed at least Thursday and in the previous days on the roofs of several defense and administrative buildings in Moscow, according to photos posted on social media. Which suggests that Russia expects attacks on its capital.
An anti-aircraft missile at the Ministry of Defence.
The diplomat and former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt shared this Friday morning on his Twitter account a photograph showing a Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile on the roof of the Russian Ministry of Defense, in the heart of the capital. A snapshot posted on Thursday by a pro-Russian Telegram account.
“Moscow is safe,” he captioned.
The same in the Department of Education, where Muscovites were surprised to see missile launchers being installed with cranes. The scene was filmed by neighbors.
The adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Anton Gerashchenko, for his part, published a video in which we see a Pantsir-C1 air defense system, installed, according to him, 10 km from Vladimir Putin’s residence near Moscow. . The video is dated January 6.
“We can wonder what’s going on,” he wonders.
These installations have been denounced in particular in Twitter by Mikhaïlo Podoliak, advisor to Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Doesn’t Lavrov want to discuss international humanitarian law again?” he asks scathingly.
Concern or Moscow bluff?
Why are such defense systems, intended to protect against any air attack, placed hundreds of kilometers from the front lines? First hypothesis: the Russians are worried that the Westerners will agree to send long-range missiles to Ukraine that can reach Moscow. Therefore, they would equip themselves preemptively to protect themselves from potential strikes.
Another possibility, the not very discreet installation of these missile launchers may suggest that Moscow is actually making a show of force and wants to send a message: that the Russian army is ready to fight at all costs against the Ukrainians, even if it is It means jeopardizing your capital.
Kyiv’s allies reunited in Germany
Some facilities were set up on Thursday as Ukraine’s allies meet this Friday in Ramstein, Germany, to coordinate military aid sent to Kyiv.
If Vladimir Putin adopted an optimistic discourse on the evolution of the conflict, evoking this week a “positive dynamic” for his troops, the former president of Russia now vice president of Putin’s powerful security council, Dmitry Medvedev, did not hesitate to threaten Westerners.
“The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war can trigger a nuclear war,” he warned in a message posted on Telegram on Thursday.
Source: BFM TV
