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.”
“The credibility of many of its weapon systems has been undermined by their association with Russian forces’ poor performance in the Ukraine war,” British military officials said.