British military intelligence has reported that Russia probably relocated its strategic air defense assets from Kaliningrad Oblast to compensate for losses suffered in the conflict with Ukraine.
“Exceptional Russian air transport movements through November 2023 suggest that Russia has likely moved strategic air defense systems from its Baltic coast enclave of Kaliningrad, to backfill recent losses on the Ukraine front. This follows an uptick in losses of SA-21 air defence systems in Russian-occupied Ukraine in late October 2023,” the UK ministry of defense said in its war intelligence update.

The British ministry added: “As its most westerly outpost and bordered on three sides by NATO member states, Russia sees Kaliningrad as one of its most strategically sensitive regions.”
The intelligence report commented on the strain on Russian forces in the war: “The fact that the Russian MoD appears willing to accept additional risk here highlights the overstretch the war has caused for some of Russia’s key, modern capabilities.”

Earlier in November, Over 1,000 Baltic Fleet marine infantry and army corps units are practicing the latest warfare tactics at training grounds in Russia’s westernmost exclave of the Kaliningrad Region, the Fleet’s press office reported.

“The personnel of the Baltic Fleet’s combined marine infantry and army corps units stationed in the Kaliningrad Region are engaged in tactical gunnery exercises based on the methods adapted to present-day warfare and characterized by the simultaneous combination of firing objectives to employ the entire range of armaments, reconnaissance capabilities and military hardware,” the press office said as cited by state news agency TASS.

Additionally, the Baltic Fleet’s army corps practiced battlefield tactics based on the combat experience gained in the war on Ukraine during drills in Russia’s westernmost exclave of the Kaliningrad Region, the Fleet said as cited by TASSS.