GRU special forces unit. Despite a tradition of naming the site of the Christmas service, the Kremlin withheld specifics this time.
The outlet Agentsvo.Novosti reported the details on X after analyzing official footage and statements by Russian authorities.
Reporters say this is the third consecutive year Putin has celebrated Christmas with the military, but the format was unusual. The Kremlin press service limited information, saying only that Putin visited the Church of St. George the Victorious in Moscow region. Notably, the location of the service was not publicly named - atypical move.
In previous years, the Kremlin had no issue disclosing where Putin attended Christmas liturgies. For example, the outlet notes, last year he visited the Church of St. George on Poklonnaya Hill; in 2024, a church at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence; and in 2023, the Annunciation Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.
No official explanation was given for the extra secrecy. On the eve of the service, Kremlin pool journalist Alexander Yunashov said Putin would celebrate with service members and that some attendees “could not be shown on camera.”
After reviewing available materials, Agents.Media concluded the Christmas service took place at a closed military facility: the Senezh Special Purpose Center in Solnechnogorsk.
According to the “Pilgrim’s ABC” project, the idea to build a church there was approved in 2017 by then–Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, with support from Maj. Gen. Alexei Galkin, commander of military unit 92154, and Alexander Matovnikov, then commander of Russia’s Special Operations Forces.
Who stood near Putin during the service
Closest to Putin during the service was Alexei Galkin, commander of the Senezh unit, who was born in 1970 in Cherkasy, Ukraine. Agents.Media notes Galkin was captured during the First Chechen War; his story later inspired the feature film “Personal Number.” In 2002, he was awarded the title Hero of Russia for service in a GRU reconnaissance group and participation in special operations in the North Caucasus.
Agents.Media also reports that Senezh has increasingly appeared in high-profile investigations. Officer Yury Sizov has been named as a handler of a Ukrainian national accused in Poland of plotting sabotage on railway infrastructure. The Wall Street Journal has previously reported that Senezh has been linked to covert operations in Europe. Western intelligence services consider the unit responsible for parcel-bomb attacks at DHL facilities in Europe and for planning an assassination attempt on Rheinmetall’s chief executive, the outlet notes.
Beyond Galkin, journalists identified several senior officers on the Christmas footage: Andrei Popov, a colonel and Hero of Russia serving with unit No. 92154; and Konstantin Maslyanko, a GRU colonel and Hero of Russia who previously served with unit No. 45807.
Ukraine’s Security Service has said Maslyanko was involved in preparing a 2014 terror attack in central Kyiv and organizing a blast at a Ukrainian checkpoint near Luhansk in 2015. Ukrainian media report he acted in coordination with Russia’s Special Operations Forces leadership, including Valery Flyustikov and former Putin bodyguard Alexei Dyumin.
The video also shows a woman in uniform with an uncovered head, but her identity could not be established.
After the service, Putin delivered a brief address inside the church for the first time in years, casting the war in religious terms and saying Russian troops are carrying out a “God-pleasing mission.”
“After the service, Putin addressed those gathered with a short speech: ‘And very often we call the Lord the Savior, because He came to Earth to save all people. And therefore the warriors of Russia - the warriors of Russia - always, so to speak, by the will of the Lord, fulfill this mission: they defend the Fatherland and its people, they save the Motherland and its people,’” the outlet quoted him as saying.
Since the start of the year Putin had not appeared publicly for an extended period and did not comment on the detention of his ally Nicolás Maduro.
