The military jet flew from Riga, Latvia, to Moscow Vnukovo airport according to flight tracking data.
A US military transport aircraft landed in the Russian capital on 25 August with a purpose that is not yet known.
Washington has provided no official explanation for the flight, in which a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III from the US Air Force flew from Riga International airport in Latvia to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. The short hop lasted approximately 1h 15min, according to open-source tracking from FlightRadar24.
The C-17 bore the callsign Reach 4555 for the journey to Moscow. The aircraft itself (registration 07-7181) originated in Charleston, South Carolina, home to a USAF airlift wing that operates the C-17.
Globemaster 07-7181 departed Charleston on 23 August for Joint Base Andrews, the air force base outside Washington, DC, that houses the fleet of executive transport aircraft used by the president and senior US government officials, including the Boeing VC-25A and L3Harris/Boeing VC-25B Bridge “Air Force One” jets.
After just 3h on the ground at Andrews, Reach 4555 departed the US for Latvia at 16:38 US Eastern time, landing in Riga at 08:18 Eastern European time on 25 August — a flight of 8h and 41min, according to FlightRadar24.
The C-17 took off for Moscow 30min later, going wheels up from Riga at 08:48 local time.
A video posted to X shows a C-17 on final approach passing over a retail shopping plaza near Vnukovo airport.
Mystery has swirled around a U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster that landed in Moscow on Tuesday, according to tracking data.
It is not known who was on board the aircraft and why it was in Russia. When asked, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not have information… pic.twitter.com/Lu2I4k9zcd
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) August 25, 2026
Although the authenticity of the video cannot be verified, FlightGlobal was able to geolocate the co-ordinates of the area seen in the video, which is a shopping centre on the approach path to Vnukovo’s runway 24.
Neither Washington nor Moscow has confirmed the purpose of the flight.
Unverified video circulating on social media claims to show an official American diplomatic convoy driving through Moscow with a Russian police escort shortly after the C-17 landed.
American broadcaster CBS reports the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency was aboard the flight, citing unnamed sources.
The post US Air Force C-17 transport lands in Russia without explanation first appeared on FlightGlobal.