British report unmasks Russian maskirovka tactics amidst ongoing losses

The most recent intelligence brief points out that Russian military strategy heavily depends on camouflage and misinformation tactics, collectively known as maskirovka, to boost the survival rates of its troops and disguise their true operational goals. The poor execution of these techniques was identified as a key factor in the operational setbacks during the early phases of the Ukraine invasion.

This report implies that the Russian military has likely intensified and refined its camouflage practices to curb the substantial damages inflicted on the Black Sea Fleet and the Aerospace Forces in the past two years.

At Russian air bases, these camouflage methods include deploying decoy aircraft and placing tires on the wings of planes. Reports also indicate that outlines of airplanes have been sketched on nine bases. For naval operations, vessels of the Black Sea Fleet are painted black at both the bows and sterns to make them seem smaller and less appealing as targets. Similarly, ship silhouettes have been drawn on the docks, presumably to deceive Ukrainian drone operators.

An intelligence briefing featured a satellite image from Novorossiysk port, showing a ship's outline painted next to an actual ship on the quay.

"Despite these evasion tactics, Russian planes remain susceptible to being shot down in flight, and Russian ships continue to face risks while active in the Black Sea. The employment of maskirovka methods is unlikely to significantly cut down on losses," the report concluded.