Putin calls russian army "one of the most high-tech" after sending 1940s weapons to front

The russian army is becoming "one of the most combat-ready and high-tech" in the world, the leader of the terrorist country of the russian federation, vladimir putin, said during a meeting with the leaders of the leading mass media of the BRICS countries.

The Kremlin leader's statement came after the Ministry of Defense of the russian federation sent Joseph Stalin-era weapons to the front.

Thus, at the end of August, it became known that the russian army began using 130 mm M-46 howitzers, developed in the 1950s, to protect the Kursk Oblast. The Ministry of Defense of the russian federation published a video with this weapon.

"On the footage - combat work of units of M-46 guns of the "North" troop group in the border area of ​​the Kursk Oblast. "Units of M-46 guns have equipped firing positions in the border areas of the Kursk Oblast to destroy mobile armored groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the department said in a statement

Previously, these howitzers were used in other areas of the front.

In October 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that the russian army had begun transferring S-60 anti-aircraft systems, developed back in the 1940s, to the front. This was confirmed by a video recording of a train carrying obsolete equipment.

War correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky soon demonstrated the D-1 howitzer, which was used by russian troops in battles in Ukraine. This 152 mm howitzer was developed in 1943 and was produced until 1949.

In September, the Oryx project, which keeps track of losses of russian equipment, reported that russia had lost more than 10,000 units of armored vehicles of all types in Ukraine. Such rates of losses may lead to the fact that in a year the Ministry of Defense of the russian federation will not be able to provide the troops with a sufficient amount of equipment.

Among the russian armored vehicles destroyed since the beginning of the war:

- 3,376 tanks, including 159 of the most modern T-90s,

- more than 5,000 combat vehicles of infantry, landing and armored personnel carriers,

- more than 1,500 other armored vehicles, including transport, reconnaissance and anti-mine vehicles.

A report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) highlights that the russian military is increasingly relying on recovered stocks of Soviet weapons and equipment to support fighting in Ukraine. However, these reserves are depleting, and the question arises: will the military-industrial complex of the russian federation be able to compensate for the losses, even with the mobilization of the economy, ISW notes.

According to Alexander Goltsy, an analyst at the Stockholm Center for East European Studies, and Pavel Luzin, an expert on the Russian armed forces and an invited employee of the Center for the Analysis of European Policy, the possibilities of repairing and restoring Soviet equipment may be exhausted by the second half of 2025, which will create serious problems for the Russian army in the future.