Russia is stationing military aircraft at civilian airfields
According to media reports, Russia has begun stationing certain types of military aircraft at civilian airfields. This, it is claimed, allows military aircraft to use civilian infrastructure as cover.
NV reports this, citing satellite imagery from Maxar and SkySat.
It is reported that one such airfield is Zhukovsky Airport, located in the Moscow region of the Russian Federation. The images show at least four Tu-160 strategic bombers stationed there, as well as one Tu-95 and one Tu-22M3 strategic bomber each. Although Yandex Maps indicates that some of these aircraft may be museum exhibits, a comparison of images over the past six months has shown that Russia is constantly moving them—possibly specifically for flight operations.
Another airport, "Petrozavodsk," located near the border with Finland, hosts a significant number of fighter/bomber aircraft, likely developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau (Su) or MiG. At least four of them conduct regular flights.
At the Anapa airfield in the Krasnodar Krai, the Russians maintain at least two Su-30 or Su-34 bombers/fighters and at least two Su-24 bombers. And at the “Mineralnye Vody named after M. Yu. Lermontov” International Airport in the Stavropol Krai, Russia maintains Tu-134UBK military training aircraftTu-134UBK, which are used to train or maintain the flight skills of pilots of Tu-22M3 and Tu-160 bombers.
Additionally, at least six Il-76 military transport aircraft are stationed at Nizhny Novgorod Airport. Most of these aircraft are currently in use by the Russian armed forces.
Journalists note that these airfields are intended for civilian flights, for which Russia typically uses them. Thus, the enemy is effectively using civilian passengers as a human shield to protect its military aviation.
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