What a twist: a U.S. military aircraft has landed at Vnukovo. What’s going on?

RBC drew attention to the aircraft’s route—unusual for Russia—citing data from the Flightradar24 service.

The aircraft in question has the tail number RCH4555. According to the service, before arriving in Moscow it was in Riga, and earlier it had operated flights from the U.S. state of Maryland.

Maryland is home to Andrews Air Force Base, which is known as the base for aircraft used to transport the U.S. president and senior U.S. officials.

At the same time, the mere appearance of a C-17 at Vnukovo does not make it possible to determine the purpose of its visit. Flightradar24 data record the aircraft’s route but do not explain who was on board or what mission the plane arrived in Moscow for.

Information about the U.S. aircraft’s дальнейших plans, as well as official comments from Russian or U.S. authorities regarding its arrival, were not available at the time of publication.