Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is straining Moscow’s ability to provide armored military vehicles to other countries, traditionally a lucrative export opportunity for Russia.
Belarus recently announced details of its plans for a domestically upgraded T-72B main battle tank (MBT).
“Belarus probably developed this alternative solution in place of an MBT modification program previously contracted to (the) Russian state-owned company UralVagonZavod,” according to a Twitter post by British military intelligence officials on Thursday.
Russia has long considered the defense industry to be one of its most important export successes, but its military-industrial capacity is now under “significant strain.