Unexplained photos and videos showing military equipment on Moscow roofs appear online

On January 19, videos and photographs appeared on social media, allegedly showing Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems mounted on the roofs of several buildings in Moscow. The authenticity of the videos and photos has not been confirmed.

The Telegram channel Moscow Calling publicized several videos, which allegedly show the installation of a Pantsir-S1 system at a building on 8 Teterinsky Lane, in central Moscow (the building at that address on Google Maps looks like the one shown in the videos). In another video, the channel claims, the Pantsir is on the roof of the house.

Online publication Agentstvo notes that Russian Telegram channels, including several pro-Kremlin “war blogs,” as well as western open-source intelligence specialists, have published photos of the Defense Ministry building on the Frunzenskaya Embankment where, they claim, another Pantsir-S1 has been installed.

At the beginning of the week, photos circulated on Russian Telegram channels showing S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems at the Losiny Ostrov National Park, outside of Moscow, and on the experimental fields of the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, in Moscow. Publication Sirena claims that trees were felled in Losiny Ostrov National Park in order to clear an area for the anti-aircraft missile systems.

Moscow authorities and the Russian Defense Ministry have so far not commented on these reports.