US Air Force C-17 tracked flying from Riga to Moscow's Vnukovo airport

A Boeing C-17A Globemaster III operated by the United States Air Force was tracked flying from Riga International Airport in Latvia to Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport on the morning of August 25, 2026, according to flight-tracking service Flightradar24.

The aircraft, carrying serial number 07-7181 and using the callsign RCH4555, left Riga at around 08:50 Moscow time and reached Vnukovo roughly 74 minutes later. Flightradar24 reported no further movement of the airframe after its arrival.

According to the same tracking data, the aircraft had arrived in Riga two days earlier, on August 23, after departing from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, a facility used for US government and senior official transport.

Asked about the flight at a briefing the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no information on the matter, according to Russian news agency Interfax. He added that no meeting with US administration representatives was scheduled at the Kremlin that week.

Flightradar24 said it stood by the routing it had published, confirming on August 25 that the aircraft had flown from Riga to Vnukovo. The confirmation came amid caution around tracking data in that region, where regulators have documented persistent satellite navigation interference that can degrade position accuracy for commercial tracking services.

Unverified video said to show the C-17 approaching Vnukovo circulated on social media following the reports. The purpose of the flight has not been officially confirmed by either US or Russian authorities.