Defend Yourself Says Kremlin

On orders from the Kremlin, industries must take responsibility for protecting themselves.

The Wall Street Journal reports Overwhelmed by Ukraine's Drones, Russia Tells Businesses to Defend Themselves

When a Ukrainian drone struck one of Russia's biggest steel producers earlier this year, the company's owner and the country's richest businessman, Alexei Mordashov, brought in an air-defense system to protect the firm's biggest mill on the outskirts of Moscow, people familiar with the matter said.

It isn't all by choice.

Moscow has mandated that businesses take steps to protect themselves. The Kremlin warned in an official decree last month that any company that doesn't take responsibility for its protection against Ukrainian drones could face temporary state seizure.

Now, businesses across Russia are leasing air-defense systems from defense firms or building their own, said people close to Russia's business elite and defense sector. Job advertisements show that some are even hiring gunners to shoot down drones.

"The Kremlin is shifting more and more of the burden of protection to the shoulders of private business," said Alexandra Prokopenko, a senior analyst at Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, a think tank based in Berlin.

Ukraine has ramped up its drone production, enabling its military to carry out massive barrages deep inside Russian territory. Since March, Ukrainian drones have carried out some 200 strikes on Russian refineries and hit at least 36 logistics centers, including those of Russia's biggest online retailers, Ozon and Wildberries, according to Rochan Consulting, a Poland-based firm that specializes in defense. Wildberries has started using steel netting around some of its warehouses to defend against drones.

Russia's enormous size once helped it defend against the invading armies of Hitler and Napoleon. Now it is a vulnerability, spreading its available air defenses thin across a landmass that is difficult to defend in its entirety.

As a result, the Russian government is making defending against drones everyone's problem—not just a matter for the military. Earlier this month, the government issued a decree allowing Russian postal workers to carry weapons and ammunition to take down drones, without specifying exactly what kinds of weapons they will be able to use.