T-34s Return to Russia

While the Russian Federation is on track to receive the first 100 of a planned 2,300 next-generation T-14 Armata main battle tanks by 2020, TV Zvezda, the official television channel of the Russian Ministry of Defense, reported that the Kremlin made a deal to receive 30 World War II-era T-34/85 tanks from Laos. As part of a three-way deal that also involved Vietnam, the Russian military will receive the vintage tanks not for use on any potential frontline. Rather, the nearly 75-year-old tanks will be for placement in museums, used in parades, and potentially star in state-sponsored movies and other media.

The 30 tanks, that had been provided as part of military-technical cooperation with