Russia Is Wheeling 60-Year-Old Tanks Out Of Storage for the War in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin is hauling 60-year-old tanks out of storage to refit them for his war in Ukraine.

New video footage out of Russia shows ancient T-62s, Soviet tanks first deployed in 1961, being modernised for use today.

Russia has been facing arms shortages during the conflict, with recent estimates saying that it has lost 2,000 tanks – half its operational fleet – since launching the full-scale invasion 13 months ago. 

Now, Moscow is digging deep and pulling decommissioned tanks out of warehouses and fitting them with new technology. 

It’s believed to have around 5,000 in storage – including in museums – but many of these are believed to be junk, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

British intelligence reported earlier this month that Russia has deployed BTR-50 armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine, which were first used in 1954.

New video shows Andrey Gurulev, a Russian State Duma member and Putin cheerleader, on a visit to a factory in the remote city of Chita, in eastern Siberia, which will upgrade some 800 T-62s.

In the video, Gurulev said employees of the 103rd Armoured Tank Repair Plant are working “to transform tanks that are more than 50 years old into modern normal machines capable of carrying out objectives and meet challenges on the front lines.”

Gurulev added the tanks, first used when Nikita Khrushchev led the Soviet Union, will have new “engines, communication systems, control systems, thermal imagers, dynamic active protection.” He added the modernisations make them “a completely different tank for today that can work.” 

The crumbling T-62s are still believed to be vulnerable despite having new technology fitted, as they lack modern explosive reactive armour, according to the British intelligence update. 

Video shared by pro-Ukrainian news sources that was taken from an undisclosed location also appears to show a “tankenstein” vehicle of an old naval turret welded to a Cold War-era armoured personnel carrier. 

The footage appears to show a 25mm 2M-3 twin-barrelled naval anti-aircraft turret fixed on top of a Soviet-era MT-LB amphibious tracked armoured fighting vehicle. Parts of this crude hybrid vehicle reportedly date back to 1945.