Moscow covered up drone attack to protect election turnout - ISW
Photo: Russians left without danger alerts in Moscow (Getty Images)
During a record drone attack on Moscow on September 20, Russian authorities deliberately did not warn residents of the danger - neither with sirens nor with SMS alerts. According to analysts' estimates, the reason was the reluctance to disrupt voter turnout in the State Duma elections, according to a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
On September 20, the last day of voting in the State Duma elections, the authorities of Moscow Oblast did not activate air raid sirens or send SMS warnings about the threat of an attack - although they had done so even during significantly smaller strikes before.
At the same time, according to analysts' observations, the authorities still resorted to one of the typical countermeasures - they limited mobile communications, but without any official explanation of this step.
Residents of the Moscow region complained in Governor Andrey Vorobyov's Telegram channel about the lack of warnings - before comments on the channel were closed.
According to ISW's assessment, Russian authorities evidently prioritized high voter turnout over population safety - even though Ukrainian forces attacked strategic oil and logistics infrastructure and fundamentally did not target polling stations or other electoral infrastructure.
After the record drone attack on Moscow, videos of fires at several facilities in the Russian capital spread across the internet.
The Ukrainian side confirmed the strike on the Moscow Refinery - the plant caught fire, and it is one of the largest oil refineries in Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also reported that FP-1, RZ-100, MICH-2000, Palianytsia, Vendetta, Lutyi, Bars, Flamingo, Sichen, and Pelican drones were used during the operation.
