Ironically, the T-34 tank was originally developed and built at the Kharkov Locomotive Factory, in modern day Kharkiv, Ukraine. The tanks were shipped back to Russia in 2019 with the intent of using them, Russian state media reported, “in May 9 V-Day parades in different Russian cities, for updating and expanding museum expositions and making films about World War II.” The 30 T-34/85s, built in the Soviet Union in 1944, had been transferred to Laos in the 1990s to serve in the Laotian Army. The parade tank was likely one of nearly three dozen Soviet tanks recently reimported from Laos. At least two other T-34s sat on the sidelines during the parade and did not move. The T-34 was trucked into Moscow on May 4. The Soviet Union ceased T-34/85 production in 1946.Īll of this is to say that the tank in the parade was very old. Introduced in 1944, the T-34/85, was the main tank of the Soviet Army in the latter half of the war, participating in the final battles in Germany in the spring of 1945. The sole tank in the parade was a T-34/85 medium tank, which was the last production model of the vaunted T-34 series of tanks. Russian parade officials did not offer an explanation for the downgraded parade, and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not mention the lack of armored vehicles or the missing air parade in his delivered remarks. Missing from the parade were any modern tanks, the BMP series of infantry fighting vehicles, artillery vehicles, any short- or medium-range surface-to-air missile systems, and TOS-1 flamethrower vehicles. The parade also featured about a dozen Tigr armored scout vehicles, a BTR-82A wheeled infantry fighting vehicle, three new Bumerang wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, S-400 long range surface-to-air missile systems, and an 8x8 transporter erector launcher vehicle for the Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile. And only one tank, a World War II-era T-34/85 medium tank, represented the entirety of the Russian tank corps. Yesterday’s parade was estimated by one observer to include less than 100 fighting vehicles. None of these tanks appeared in this week’s parade. At least 77 T-80BVMs have been lost in the war, and the Armata has been so unreliable it was only seen at the front in late April. Russian T-80BVM tanks and new T-14 Armata tanks during the 2020 parade.

Modern Day Tanks Russia