2023-08-16 18:44:21
Moscow exhibits its Western “trophies”
Wreckage of a Tochka-U tactical missile on the exhibition grounds of the “Patriotic” park in Kubinka, in the Moscow region, on August 15, 2023, during the Army Forum 2023. ALEXANDER NEMENOV / AFP
French tank ” capture “American vehicle ” abandoned “ : the Russian army exhibits near Moscow Western machines that it says it seized on the front in Ukraine. Objective: to praise its own armaments and discredit the Ukrainian counter-offensive in progress.
In the park called “Patriote”, 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 armored transport MaxxPro, which Moscow presents as one of those delivered by Washington to the Ukrainian army.
“It was abandoned on the battlefield because it stopped working”, assures the soldier at the microphone of the public press agency TASS. He then presents a British Husky vehicle, whose windscreen is riddled with what is described as 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 Agence France-Presse was able to see on Tuesday, also includes, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, an Australian Bushmaster armored car, an American M-113 transport and a Swedish CV90-40 infantry fighting vehicle. The press service of the Russian army ensures that a ” big party “ This equipment consists of British vehicles: Husky and Mastiff vehicles, as well as a Saxon AT-105.
Clothes with Ukrainian nationalist slogans
On Wednesday, former President Dmitry Medvedev, the current number two in the Russian Security Council and who particularly follows issues related to his country’s military industry, visited the exhibition. “Is it ceramic? Ah! Advanced technology, worth watching”said Mr. Medvedev while examining one of the materials of a military device supposed to come from Australia, according to images released by the agency RIA Novosti.
He also observed articles purporting to show regimentation “ideological” Ukrainian youth. These are, for example, clothes bearing Ukrainian nationalist slogans and emblems of the Azov regiment, considered a terrorist organization by Moscow.
One of the attractions of the 2023 Army Forum
The exhibition also includes Ukrainian-made armaments believed to have been recovered since the start of the military campaign in February 2022. Last summer, the Russian army had already exhibited equipment “trophies” seized in Ukraine.
It is one of the attractions of the 2023 Army Forum, which runs until August 20 in the presence of military delegations from countries deemed « amis » by Moscow, mostly Asians and Africans.
It is a communication operation of the military industry and the army; the latter, after its setbacks on the front last year, starting with its withdrawal from the kyiv region, wants to show that it has been able to recover.
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