The Russian military is rebuilding and disguising Iranian-made drones with Russian military markings to use in the Ukraine war, according to a new report from the Institute for the Study of War.
“The Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported on November 1 that Iranian officials intend to send a shipment of more than 200 Shahed-136, Mohajer-6, and Arash-2 combat drones to Russia,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in a Russian offensive campaign assessment on Tuesday. “The GUR reported that Iran will send Russia the drones in a disassembled state and that Russian personnel will assemble them with Russian markings.”
As the report noted, on Tuesday, the Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate said that at the beginning of this month, Russia is expected to receive hundreds of new drones from Iran. “Drones will arrive in a disassembled state. In the future, on the territory of the Russian Federation, they will be collected, repainted and applied with Russian markings, in particular ‘Geranium-2,'” the Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate said.
The report from the ISW and the Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate comes amid the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly claimed that the Russian military is utilizing Iranian-made drones, as well as saying that they have shot down hundreds of them.
Last month, Ukraine also announced that in addition to the Shahed-136 drones, Iran was sending Russia Arash-2 drones, which the ISW previously said were “purportedly faster and more destructive.”
While speaking with Newsweek last month, Katherine Lawlor, a senior intelligence analyst at the ISW, explained that: “The only reason it would be more effective than the Shahed-136 is if it can go substantially faster, if it can have some kind of stealth capabilities. I don’t have any evidence that that’s the case but the Iranians have claimed that it is faster and larger.”
Lawlor also told Newsweek that over the course of the ongoing war, the Russian military has shown that its use of drones is “to achieve a terror effect on Ukrainian civilians…not to achieve a dramatic change on the battlefield.”
The most recent report from the ISW also stated that since Ukraine first began accusing Russia of using Iranian-made drones in September, defense forces have “shot down more than 300 Shahed-136 drones.”
However, Iran has continued to deny reports that they have supplied military equipment to Russia. In a statement in October, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said accusations were “baseless.”
Newsweek reached out to the ISW and Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.
Read More: Russia Rebuilding, Disguising Iran Drones With Own Markings: ISW