A ‘captured’ French tank and an allegedly ‘abandoned’ American armored vehicle are among the Western footage the Russian army is displaying near Moscow to praise its own achievements and discredit the Ukrainian troops’ counteroffensive.
“They left it on the battlefield because it stopped working,” a Russian commander assures visitors to this exhibition in Patriot Park in the Moscow region, referring to an American MaxxPro armored vehicle.
The same soldier also shows a British Husky vehicle with its windshield riddled with bullets, while another officer gives an interview about an armored vehicle donated by France to the Ukrainian army.
Afp was able to view this collection of “trophies” on Wednesday, which, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, also includes an Australian Bushmaster armored vehicle, an American M-113 transporter, or a Swedish CV90-40 tank.
According to the Russian Army Press Service, the “vast majority” of these war trophies are British armored vehicles.
“Is it ceramics? Definitely advanced technology worth looking at,” said former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now number two on the Russian Security Council, during a visit to the exhibition on Wednesday.
According to the images of the Ria-Novosti agency, Medvedev also noticed objects that, in his opinion, reflected the “ideological” exaggeration of Ukrainian youth.
Among them were uniforms with Ukrainian nationalist slogans and emblems of the Azov group, which is known for its extreme right-wing orientation and is considered by Moscow to be a “terrorist organization”.
“Weak Points”
Also on display are Ukrainian-made weapons seized in the early months of the conflict, which began with the Russian offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.
This exhibition is part of the Army Forum 2023, which runs until August 20 and will be attended by military delegations from “Russia-friendly” countries, particularly Asia and Africa.
With the sample, Moscow wants to brag about the allegedly good functioning of its army after the Ukrainian troops made only slight advances after the start of their “counteroffensive” in early June.
The Kremlin has insisted for months that the Kiev operation was a failure,” despite Western military aid.
“Ukraine’s military resources are almost exhausted,” Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told military officials from other countries on Tuesday.
The minister said the military operation in Ukraine was a “serious test” for the Russian army, but Russia managed to “significantly” increase the production of armored vehicles.
Regarding the Western weapons delivered to Kiev, Shoigu stated that they had “nothing unique or invulnerable” for Russian troops.
“We are ready to share our assessments of the weaknesses of Western weapons,” the minister stressed.
