Defensive bias: what threatens a business that ignores the threat of UAV attacks

Experts called the presidential decree timely, which allows the authorities to transfer critical infrastructure facilities to external management if the owners have not protected them from UAV attacks. The owners had enough time to strengthen the protection of their assets, but many did not do so, counting, among other things, on insurance payments for damage, the Izvestia interlocutors emphasized. At the same time, it is quite possible to protect important objects from drones — in particular, the recent experience of the United Arab Emirates shows this. In Russia today, even oil and energy companies do not have the right to purchase air defense systems or sign a contract with the armed forces, despite financial resources. After signing the decree, the authorities should also explain to businesses what is meant by "insufficient security" of facilities.

Who should protect businesses from drones

Closing critical infrastructure facilities from UAV attacks is a difficult but solvable task, experts interviewed by Izvestia said. Drone attacks on refineries and important industrial facilities, albeit isolated ones, began back in the first year of its existence. The owners of strategically important industries had time to arrange protection, military expert Yuri Knutov believes. According to him, the owners had the opportunity to ensure security, but were in no hurry to invest money.

— They hoped to receive insurance payments for the damage, thereby solving personal financial problems at the expense of others. As a result, people and state interests suffered, and the new decree should concern just such businessmen," said Knutov.

Recently, cases have become more frequent when, after damage to the enterprise, the owners simply wait for insurance payments, confirmed by military expert, head of the Safir analytical center Alexei Bogatyrev. According to him, after receiving the money, owners often deposit it and wait for the end of hostilities, postponing the construction of a new facility indefinitely.

— Putin's new decree clearly states: "No, friends. If you have received the money, please restore the same industrial production as quickly as possible," the analyst notes.

What is stated in Putin's decree?

Vladimir Putin signed a decree on measures to ensure the safety of critical infrastructure facilities in the country on August 24. The document establishes that those critical infrastructure facilities whose owners have not ensured their safety can be transferred to temporary management by decision of the government.

One of the key reasons for taking such measures is to identify the ineffectiveness of measures to curb threats of attack using drones.

The document concerns enterprises of the fuel and energy complex, industrial and logistics complexes, communications facilities, energy, including nuclear, municipal and transport infrastructure.

As First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov explained, the presidential decree does not imply nationalization or a change in the form of ownership - it is about temporary government intervention to ensure the safety of enterprises and restore their work. This mechanism is not designed for mass use: decisions will be made on a point-by-point basis and at the highest level, he added.

Izvestia sent requests for measures to protect against UAV attacks to the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Transport, and the largest companies that own critical infrastructure facilities.

The decree extended the concept of critical infrastructure facilities to many industries — thousands of facilities across Russia fall under this definition, said Leonid Konik, a partner at ComNews Research. It is obvious that the owners did not install anti-drone protection in them during their creation. Commercial enterprises, whether in the field of energy, oil refining, logistics or communications, have very few opportunities to protect themselves from UAVs, Leonid Konik pointed out. All that is easily accessible to them is physical protection in the form of metal structures and trapping nets, and when special permits are issued, mobile firing groups.

— The security of critical infrastructure facilities could be enhanced by means of threat detection at distant approaches. For this purpose, radar stations, acoustic sensors, optoelectronic target tracking systems, as well as electronic jamming equipment can be used. But all this is military equipment, and commercial enterprises cannot just buy and use it," the expert emphasized.

As for communication facilities, it is possible to reduce the consequences of an attack on them at low cost, says Oleg Yablokov, NTI expert on wireless communications. But guaranteed protection is a difficult and resource—intensive task, he added.

Passive equipment protection, backup power, channel duplication, and spare parts can help reduce damage relatively inexpensively and restore communication faster. But they do not guarantee protection from a direct hit," Oleg Yablokov noted. — Full-fledged protection requires a detection system, trained personnel, round-the-clock duty and legitimate means of counteraction. For communication facilities, the use of electronic warfare is particularly sensitive, since suppression can disrupt the operation of the network itself and navigation equipment.

According to Yablokov, it is more rational to strengthen key nodes, and make the mass network stable due to backup traffic routes. It will be expensive to equip thousands of base stations with a full-fledged anti-drone system, he stressed.

In general, Russia is not the only country that is strengthening state control and protection over critical infrastructure. For example, in Germany, after recent incidents with drones, they are exploring the possibility of giving operators of airports, energy and other important facilities the right to independently detect and neutralize dangerous UAVs. As the German Interior Ministry told Izvestia, the legal side of this issue is currently being discussed.

Problems with the safety of fuel and energy complex facilities

Over the past few months, cases of Ukrainian Armed Forces attacks on logistics hubs of large marketplaces, such as Wildberries and Ozone, and facilities of the fuel and energy complex have become more frequent. More than a dozen oil refineries were damaged, including Omsk, Moscow, Kirishi, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, and Ryazan.

As a result, gasoline and diesel fuel supply disruptions, higher retail prices for consumers, and long queues at gas stations have been observed in many regions since the beginning of summer. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak explained in early July that the fuel shortage was due to the fact that refineries were partially out of service due to drone attacks.

On August 23, Novak said that Russia has no problems with the supply of diesel fuel and kerosene, difficulties remain only with gasoline. Minister of Energy Sergey Tsivilev, Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, commenting on queues and interruptions in gasoline, said that he personally does not face a shortage, since he drives a diesel car, and "diesel is available at all gas stations." But later he confirmed that the government is actively working to eliminate the problem with queues at gas stations.

At the same time, at the end of May, Vladimir Putin instructed the administration and the Cabinet of Ministers to work with business on proposals to protect enterprises from UAV attacks.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated in June that fuel and energy companies have the resources to independently purchase anti-theft protection systems. Alexander Novak noted that constant work is underway to strengthen the protection of the refinery.

In accordance with the law adopted in April 2025, departmental and physical security personnel have the right to use physical force, special equipment and firearms to destroy UAVs not only on the territory of the fuel and energy complex, but also beyond its borders.

Alexander Frolov, Deputy Director General of the Institute of National Energy, believes that the most common method of protecting facilities is passive protection in the form of barriers made of stretched high—strength steel ropes, wires and nets. They are designed to catch and destroy drones. Such types of passive protection often require approval from the authorities when installed at a fuel and energy complex facility.

There are also means of active protection. For example, technological devices that can interfere with and intercept UAVs at the moment of approach to the ground, as well as personal armed guards, the expert added.

Despite various types of security measures, the main problem of insufficient protection of fuel and energy complex facilities lies in the limited capabilities of companies, said Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund. Despite financial resources, oil and gas and energy companies do not have the right to buy air defense systems or sign a contract with the armed forces.

— Companies, of course, are engaged in ensuring the protection of their facilities, each according to their capabilities. However, this does not guarantee complete security," the expert notes.

Alexander Frolov believes that when temporarily transferring critical infrastructure facilities to state management in accordance with the presidential decree, companies should clarify what is meant by "insufficient security" of facilities. Often, the security problem lies in the fact that private and even large companies independently try to figure out what kind of protection their enterprises need, since there are no clear regulations.

"Fuel and energy companies should have comprehensive support from regulators and government agencies in this matter, including in the process of legal approvals for the installation of protective systems," the expert believes.

It is also necessary to initiate contacts between companies and enterprises in the oil and gas industry to share experiences, both negative and positive, Alexander Frolov added.

How to stop drones

— In the Persian Gulf countries, UAV shelters over important facilities of the fuel and energy complex appeared after the start of attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran, - said Yuri Knutov. — Moreover, they are made correctly: the entire airspace is blocked by special networks — there are no gaps for the passage of drones. They are fulfilling their task of disrupting the kamikaze drone's direct contact with the protected structure. Once in the network, drones are activated at a considerable distance, which reduces the damage from explosions or minimizes it.

To protect its critical infrastructure, the UAE has promptly implemented a multi-layered defense system. Alexey Bogatyrev notes: although the United Arab Emirates air defense system cannot be called the most high-tech in the world, it is definitely one of the most saturated. The compactness of the country helps this. All the key transportation arteries and pipelines of the emirates are covered in one way or another, although the oil terminal in Fujairah was still damaged as a result of the Iranian attack.

Saudi Arabia has also demonstrated effectiveness in minimizing damage to its critical infrastructure. It has successfully solved the problem of depletion of stocks of expensive interceptor missiles. They stopped wasting Patriot missiles on cheap Iranian drones. Instead, the kingdom's air defense redistributed tasks: Patriot destroyed only ballistic targets, and mobile anti-aircraft artillery with radar guidance and fighter aircraft were used to eliminate swarms of drones.

Protective and trapping nets and enclosing structures have long been developed in Russia, Dmitry Dorofeev, CEO of Mechanical Protection Systems, told Izvestia.

— A properly designed network does not work as a hard wall, but as a soft boundary: it takes a blow, stretches, extinguishes some of the energy and delays the device until it comes into contact with the object. This is especially important for industrial sites, where a sharp impact, falling debris or detonation near the equipment can lead to a fire and production stoppage," Dmitry Dorofeev explained.

Izvestia wrote in early 2025 that the Russian Federation had mastered the production of anti-drone protection with anti-shatter panels "Makhaon-praktika" for industrial enterprises. It protects the most important facilities and personnel of enterprises from the effects of the explosion of the warhead, as well as from the effects of its damaging elements. Moreover, several Russian energy facilities were already equipped with such structures at that time.

Electronic warfare systems can also be used to cover the facilities, military experts say. The new Sphere UAV detection and suppression system was successfully tested back in 2004-2005, Izvestia reported. The novelty is able to affect drones over an area of several square kilometers, knocking them off course.

We were working on the material: Valery Kodachigov, Bogdan Stepovoy, Semyon Boikov, Lina Magomedova