Moscow, (EFE).- Several drones of unknown origin today caused the alarm in the Russian rear from the Moscow region to the second city of the country, Saint Petersburg, and the Black Sea coast.
In a meeting with the top staff of the secret services, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Kiev of using Ukrainian terrorism as a weapon of war.
Unidentified flying objects
One of the drones, whose images were collected by the local press, reached the Kolomna district, some 90 kilometers south of the Russian capital.
The fall “took place near the village of Gubastorovo, the target was probably a civilian infrastructure facility, but it was not damaged,” the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, reported on his Telegram channel.
Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry also accused the Ukrainian Army of attempting to carry out a drone strike on the northeastern Black Sea coast.
“The kyiv regime attempted to use drones to attack civilian infrastructure targets in the Krasnodar region and the Adygea republic,” he noted.
According to Defense, “the radio-electronic combat units of the Russian Armed Forces neutralized the drones”, which lost their way.
“One drone fell in a field, the other deviated from the route and did not damage the target of the attacked civilian infrastructure,” the Russian command added.
According to the Baza channel, one of the enemy targets was a refinery of the largest Russian oil company, Rosneft, in the coastal city of Tuapse.
Target Saint Petersburg
In addition, the airspace of St. Petersburg was closed on Tuesday due to the detection of an unidentified flying object.
According to Baza, the Pulkovo airport, the main one in the Russian imperial capital, did not receive flights for several hours and the planes that were going there were forced to return to their airports of origin.
Meanwhile, the local media Fontanka.ru reported that the object was detected some 160-200 kilometers from the city in the Gulf of Finland.
For its interception, the authorities raised several fighters, after which the airspace was reopened.
Ukraine periodically attacks not only the neighboring Russian regions, especially Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk and Krasnodar, but also targets thousands of kilometers from its borders, such as the airfields in the cities of Ryazan and Saratov, hit last December by Soviet-made drones.
Angry with Putin
“In the last year the number of such crimes has increased. This is connected with kyiv’s attempts to use terrorist methods. We know them well, they have been used in Donbas for a long time,” Putin said during a meeting at the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB, former KGB).
In particular, he highlighted the importance of defending critical infrastructure, transportation hubs, companies in the energy sector and the military industry, army command systems, and security force structures.
“Under special control of the FSB border services should be the Russian-Ukrainian sector of the state border. Their duty is to curb subversive groups, to root out attempts to illegally transport weapons and ammunition to Russian territory, ”he noted.
Putin also today accused Western secret services of supporting terrorism and extremism to divide and weaken Russia.
Air defense maneuvers
Coinciding with the attack on St. Petersburg, the army announced Tuesday anti-aircraft defense maneuvers in the west of the country, which included the use of fighters, in coordination with the civil and emergency services.
“During the training, the anti-aircraft defense guard forces carried out detection, hunting and identification missions of alleged offending targets,” the military statement said.
The fighters used are attached to the Western Military District, which includes Saint Petersburg, northwestern and northern European Russia, and the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.