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A Russian Su-30 fighter jet in Krasnodar in January 2022
Photo:
Vitaliy Timkiv/dpa
The art of war is not just symbolic - this is also evident in the war in Ukraine. According to the British Ministry of Defense, Russia is resorting to deception at several of its air bases. Fighter planes were painted on the concrete at the Kirovkskoye military airfield in the annexed Crimea.
London sees this as an indication that Russia is worried about future Ukrainian attacks. “Such paintings have already been observed at at least twelve other Russian air bases,” says the article published by X.
The problem with the Russian attempt at deception: According to the British Ministry of Defense, Russian helicopters regularly landed on the painted silhouettes, which completely undermined the attempt at deception. It also published a photo that supposedly shows a helicopter on top of a painted Su-30 fighter plane.
The British had already reported in March that Russia wanted to protect its fighter jets and warships from attacks using replicas and other deceptions. According to their assessment, the approach also reveals the true aircraft strength at these bases; Russia wants to hide them from Ukrainian secret services.
The British Ministry of Defense regularly publishes information on the course of the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin repeatedly accused London of disinformation and propaganda.
In September 2022, the Washington Post reported on Russian attacks on wooden replicas of the US Himars missile system. A US diplomat said at the time: "They want to hit more Himars than we even sent." According to the report, Russia wasted several cruise missiles on attacks on the dummies.
However, war dummies have a much longer tradition. From around the Second World War there were dummy tanks made of wood or even inflatable materials.
hba/dpa