OSINT researcher Tendar has discovered satellite images of the Russian Volkswagen factory in Kaluga.
"There are many examples of Russia's economic (and total) downfall unfolding. One clear example can be seen on satellite pictures from the former Volkswagen factory in Kaluga. This factory was once the pride of Russia's car manufacturing, producing hundreds of thousands of VW and Skoda vehicles. The parking lots of new vehicles were packed, as can be seen on the left picture, which is from 2013 and by this even before the invasion and annexation of Crimea one year later.
When Russia launched the full-scale invasion in Ukraine in February 2022, VW stopped all production. One year later, VW completely withdrew from Russia. Today, we only see a dead husk of a factory (right satellite picture). Almost all workers have been fired. It is similar to the collapse of manufacturing after the collapse of the USSR. The promises that Chinese will replace those manufacturing jobs didn't materialize and even if they were, they will never reach the quality what VW and the West altogether was offering.
Ever since then Kaluga has become like many other Russian cities, depressing and desperate. In that way, Putin has achieved another Back-to-the-USSR episode," writes the researcher.
