Yandex Digitally Painted Forest Over Russian Military Site Near Kronstadt
Finnish outlet YLE found that Yandex Maps digitally added a copied forest patch over a military installation near Kronstadt to conceal it, a new concealment method after previously relying on blurring.
Finnish broadcaster YLE has reported that Yandex digitally inserted forest cover into satellite imagery on its online maps to obscure a military site. The manipulated image covers an area near Kronstadt where Russian missile batteries have been stationed, replacing the real terrain with copied fragments of forest.
According to YLE, this represents a new technique Yandex is using to hide military installations, after previously relying simply on blurring such locations in its imagery.
Comparison with other map providers
Foreign mapping services operated by Google, Apple, and Microsoft show the missile batteries near Kronstadt in images captured before April 2026, but the batteries no longer appear in more recent imagery from these services. YLE suggested the mobile missile systems may have been relocated for unspecified reasons.
Military expert Marko Eklund told YLE that, from an operational perspective, hiding the site behind copied forest imagery serves little purpose, since Ukrainian and Western militaries rely on their own intelligence sources rather than Yandex maps.
Eklund added that Russian authorities themselves could be requiring Yandex to conceal certain locations on its maps. As of publication, Yandex had not responded to YLE's request for comment.
YLE noted that Yandex obscures not only military facilities, including airfields, but also other sensitive sites such as Vladimir Putin's residence in Valdai.
