news unrolled

Post: Diplomat believes Abrams and Leopard tanks are inferior to Russian T-80s

Categories

American tank M1A2 Abrams. archive photo

Gavrilov said that the Abrams and Leopard tanks are inferior in performance to the Russian T-80.

MOSCOW January 26 – RIA Novosti. Abrams and Leopard tanks, supplied by the West to Ukraine, are worse in characteristics than the Russian T-80s, thinks Konstantin Gavrilov, head of the Russian delegation at the talks on military security and arms control in Vienna.

“Tanks are the same ordinary boxes equipped with weapons. Abrams and Leopard are not much different, they are even worse than our T-80s, the army knows this,” Gavrilov said in the publication of Rossiya 24.

On Wednesday, the German government announced that it has decided to hand over the German Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Prior to this came greatly increased pressure by representatives of the government parties to give Olaf Scholz’s cabinet a positive decision on this matter as soon as possible.

Germany plans to establish two tank battalions. In the first phase, they plan to supply a company of 14 Leopard 2 type A6s from the Bundeswehr’s stocks. Berlin also plans to organize training in Germany for the Ukrainian army soon. In addition to 14 tanks and training, the new German aid package for Ukraine is said to include logistics, ammunition and maintenance.

Also Wednesday, the White House confirmed its intention to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. It will take several months for the cars to be delivered, according to US authorities. In addition, Washington plans to send eight M88 armored recovery vehicles to Kiev to service the tanks. As stated in the White House, the United States hopes that the supply of weapons to Ukraine will not only help Kiev in defense, but also allow it to seize lost territories, including the Crimea.

Russia had previously sent a note to NATO countries for arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that NATO countries are “playing with fire” by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping weapons into Ukraine from the West does not contribute to the success of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect.

Source: Ria

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *