Russia adds about 16 air-defense towers near Putin’s Valdai residence, roughly doubling the local count in six months and covering nearby sites

Russia has built about 16 elevated air-defense towers within a ring roughly 50 kilometers around Vladimir Putin’s Valdai residence, bringing the number near the site to more than 50, a Radio Liberty investigation based on satellite imagery found.

Most of the towers are on the southern side of the ring, facing Ukraine, and stand about 15 kilometers apart. The lattice structures are designed to raise short-range systems such as Pantsir or Tor above the tree line so they can target low-flying drones and missiles.

The new ring also covers Khotilovo airbase, described as a backup airfield for Putin and connected to the residence by a dedicated rail line, as well as Lisiy Island on the Vyshny Volochyok Reservoir, where a classified laboratory is located.

Radio Liberty’s Mark Krutov and OSINT analyst @jembobineuse mapped the sites using Planet Labs imagery. They said the number of towers roughly doubled in six months. The Valdai area, with fewer than 100,000 people within 50 kilometers, now has about half as many towers as Moscow and the surrounding region, where about 100 serve a population of more than 20 million.

The buildup follows Russian claims that Ukraine had carried out drone attacks on the residence. Kyiv denied the claims.