On January 19 and 20, Russian sources and social media sources circulated images showing the installation of an air defense system on the roof of the building of the Russian Ministry of Defense in Moscow. The Institute for the Study of War believes that the Kremlin is likely to intensify its efforts to present Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an existential war, to create information conditions for the Russian population.

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the image, while State Duma deputy Yevgeny Lebedev called it a fake.. Some Russian milbloggers responded with pleasure to these images that the people of Moscow will finally know that Russia is involved in a “heavy war” in Ukraine.

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It is likely that the Kremlin has deployed air defense systems in Moscow to create inflammatory images depicting the war as more threatening to the Russian public..

However, it is unlikely that the Kremlin believes that Ukraine will target Moscow, and it likely played this show game to support the strengthening of information operations, to prepare the Russian domestic information space for a long war in Ukraine and subsequent casualties..

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This demonstration is also likely part of a new information operation to contextualize the war in Ukraine in Russian myths of the Great Patriotic War, which likely aims to increase Russian support for the war effort and further mobilization by absurdly depicting Ukraine as a Russian center threatening Moscow in the same way,.