Lyce · Hybrid Watch
hw_b40798af1e6f9d06
Russian map service found to have digitally concealed a coastal missile position on Kotlin Island in the Gulf of Finland.
On 17 August 2026, Yle reported that the Russian mapping service Yandex had concealed a military installation on Kotlin Island by copying forest imagery over it in its satellite layer. The location had previously hosted Bastion coastal anti-ship missile systems with associated radar and electronic-warfare equipment, and an electronic-warfare battalion command post was located on the island’s north-western tip. Yle compared the Yandex image with a Planet Labs image of 4 August 2026 and a Google Earth image of 25 July 2022; Western map services still showed the site. Marko Eklund described the manipulation as operationally pointless, because Western and Ukrainian intelligence do not rely on Yandex imagery, and noted visible seams and repeated patterns.
Attribution
Official
Facts
No facts
Sources
-
- Role
- discovery_lead
- Date
- 2026-07-05T12:56:15Z
On 17 August 2026, Yle reported that the Russian mapping service Yandex had concealed a military installation on Kotlin Island by copying forest imagery over it in its satellite layer. The location had previously hosted Bastion coastal anti-ship missile systems with associated radar and electronic-warfare equipment, and an electronic-warfare battalion command post was located on the island’s north-western tip. Yle compared the Yandex image with a Planet Labs image of 4 August 2026 and a Google Earth image of 25 July 2022; Western map services still showed the site. Marko Eklund described the manipulation as operationally pointless, because Western and Ukrainian intelligence do not rely on Yandex imagery, and noted visible seams and repeated patterns.