French tank “captured”, American vehicle “abandoned”: the Russian army exhibits near Moscow Western vehicles supposedly seized on the front in Ukraine. Objective: to boast of its own armaments and discredit the ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensive.
In Patriot Park, a large space glorifying the Russian army in the Moscow region, a Russian commander speaks, green cap on his head, in front of an imposing American MaxxPro armored transport, which Moscow presents as one of those delivered by Washington to the Ukrainian army.
“It was abandoned on the battlefield because it stopped working,” said the soldier at the microphone of the public news agency TASS. He then presents a British Husky vehicle, whose windscreen is riddled with supposed bullet holes.
Further on, another Russian officer gives an interview in front of an AMX-10 RC wheeled armored vehicle, recognizable by its long anti-tank gun and supplied by France to Kiev.
This collection of “trophies”, which AFP was able to see on Tuesday, also includes, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, an Australian Bushmaster armored car, an American M-113 transport or a Swedish CV90 infantry fighting vehicle. -40.
The press service of the Russian army assures that a “large part” of this equipment is made up of British machines: Husky and Mastifff vehicles, as well as an AT 105 Saxon.
On Wednesday, former President Dmitry Medvedev, the current number 2 of the Russian Security Council and who particularly follows issues related to the military industry in his country, visited the exhibition.
“Is it ceramic? Ah! Advanced technology, worth a look,” Medvedev said as he examined one of the materials from a military device believed to be from Australia, according to footage. broadcast by the Ria-Novosti agency.
He also observed articles purporting to show the “ideological” regimentation of Ukrainian youth. In particular, we see clothes with Ukrainian nationalist slogans and emblems of the Azov regiment, considered a terrorist organization by Moscow.
The exhibit further includes Ukrainian-made weaponry believed to have been recovered since the start of the military campaign in February 2022. Last summer, the Russian military had already exhibited “trophy” equipment seized in Ukraine.
This is one of the attractions of the Army-2023 Forum which takes place until August 20 in the presence of military delegations from countries deemed “friendly” by Moscow, in particular Asian and African.
A communication operation of the military industry and the Russian army which, after its setbacks on the front last year, starting with its withdrawal from the Kiev region, wants to show that it has been able to recover.
For several weeks, the Kremlin has been repeating over and over again that the Ukrainian counter-offensive, launched in June and which is progressing slowly against Russian defences, has failed miserably, despite Western military aid.
“The military resources of Ukraine are almost exhausted,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told an audience of international military officials on Tuesday.
He assured that the Western weapons delivered to kyiv were “nothing unique or invulnerable” to Russian troops. “We are ready to share our assessments of the weak points of Western equipment,” the minister stressed.
While the capabilities of Russia’s military-industrial complex are one of the big issues in the conflict, he also said Russia had managed to “significantly” increase its production of armored vehicles, despite international sanctions.
Western officials accuse former Soviet republics but also China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates of importing and then exporting to Russia embargoed material that can be used to manufacture weapons.
16/08/2023 17:49:49 – Koubinka (Russia) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
