Russia’s Faces New Threat From Saboteurs With Drones
Russia is facing a wave of destruction from a new quarter: small drones flown by partisan groups within its own borders and in occupied territory. The new weapons make existing security measures obsolete, and open up many new targets for large-scale sabotage. Alongside Ukraine’s growing long-range drone strike capability small sabotage drones could simultaneously set Russia ablaze while throwing it into darkness. But the effects may not be confined to Russia for long.
The partisans tipped their hand with attacks on the Kremlin last May with small, short-range quadcopters flown from a few miles away at most. While larger drones presumably launched from Ukraine have also hit Moscow, there are groups within Russia carrying out such attacks. The Kremlin attack was symbolic but the current wave are entirely practical.
It is not easy to separate drone strikes from the background noise of general disruption in Russia. The Ukrainian OSINT agency Molfar, which tracks sabotage inside Russia told me that they do not specifically identify cases where small drones were used.
