«Don't give the enemy hints»
Legislators are discussing possible penalties for filming and publishing footage of air defense systems, missiles, drones, and debris at crash sites. This was announced by the head of the Committee of the Federation Council on constitutional legislation and state building Andrei Klishas. He added that specific proposals would be formulated following the discussion.
A proposal to criminalize such filming has been made to the State Duma after attempts by Ukrainian UAVs to attack Moscow and the Moscow region.
The military expert, director of the Air Defense Museum Yuri Knutov told MK what danger the personnel of air defense systems and drones pose.
— In general, drone flights are prohibited over a number of Russian cities, including Moscow. Therefore, a flying drone, taking into account the ban, implies that either it belongs to the intruder, or to the enemy in general. And, if it's not a very large drone, there's a chance it could just even attack the person who's filming it. If you notice a drone in the sky, then it’s better not to take risks, but as soon as possible inform the law enforcement agencies, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations about what you saw, when and where.
Knutov explained the dangers of taking photos and videos of launchers firing at enemy drones and missiles.
“Yesterday, footage of Pantsir anti-aircraft missile and gun systems appeared on the Internet,” he says. — The danger lies in the fact that it is not difficult at all to calculate their location from a photograph. There are special programs in which these frames are stored and after half a minute the position coordinates and shooting time are available to you with an accuracy of up to a second. Thus, the enemy receives all the necessary information about the position of our air defense system and can think over the route for the next strike in such a way as to bypass it. With all the necessary data, the enemy can strike at our positions. Don't give hints to the enemy.
— From the wreckage, you can calculate what exactly the missile or drone was shot down with — an artillery shell, a missile or an electronic warfare system. If yesterday we were shown large fragments of drones that attacked Moscow and the Moscow Region, then we could understand what means worked here. I can give you an example from history: on May 1, 1960, Powers' spy plane was shot down over Yekaterinburg. Then we organized an exhibition in Gorky Park, where we demonstrated its fragments, but among them there was not a single one that was pierced by fragments from a high-explosive fragmentation warhead of a rocket. We did not demonstrate them, so that the enemy could not understand what exactly the plane was shot down. And Americans are still arguing about this topic. For the organization of air defense, such secrecy is of great importance. We must not give the enemy information about what air defense systems we have on our defense. Of course, if they wish, they can find out, but first they will have to put a lot of effort and spend a lot of money.