Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aircraft is not merely a means of travel — it is a military command centre that floats through the sky. Putin arrived in New Delhi for the 18th BRICS summit currently underway in India, with reports suggesting that the flight carrying him is designed to evade the eyes of adversaries entirely. So which flight is it, and what makes it so special? Here’s a detailed look.
For Putin’s journey from Moscow to New Delhi, Russian security forces deployed two identical IL-96-300PU aircraft. The two planes are exact replicas of one another — in colour, size, design, and even the lettering on the fuselage. In aviation terminology, this strategy is known as a “decoy flight”: while the president travels aboard one aircraft, the other flies alongside him purely to mislead adversaries.
The two aircraft travel side by side in the sky, at the same altitude and the same speed, making it an almost impossible challenge for adversaries either to launch an attack or to determine which aircraft Putin is actually aboard. Only his most trusted security officials know which plane he is travelling in — no other international agency is privy to that information.
As the two aircraft (RSD221 and RSD369) travel, strange patterns appear in the sky. To evade international flight trackers and radar systems, the radio signals from these aircraft are switched on and off, and altered every few minutes. As a result, when one aircraft appears on radar screens, it vanishes the next minute while the second aircraft appears in its place. This is not a new tactic — Russia employed the same dual-shield protocol during Putin’s earlier visit to Kazakhstan. Rapidly altering radar data to confound the surveillance agencies of rival nations is a technique deeply embedded in the Russian security network’s playbook.
The special IL-96-300PU aircraft that Putin travels on is also known as the “Flying Kremlin.” Russia has four such special aircraft in total, each vastly different from and far more secure than ordinary planes. The Russian president’s most powerful nuclear weapons control system remains constantly accessible aboard this aircraft, meaning Putin can directly order nuclear strikes from it regardless of where he is in the world or even while airborne. The aircraft is fitted with advanced missile defence systems capable of diverting or destroying radar- or laser-guided missiles launched by adversaries while still in the air. Its fuel tank capacity is exceptionally large — once fully fuelled, it can travel as far as 13,000 kilometres without a single stop. Through satellite phones and highly sophisticated encrypted communication systems, Putin can speak directly with military commanders while airborne.