[BREITBART] Ancient T-54 and T-55 tanks have been removed from storage and may soon be joining the slightly less ancient T-62s that Russia has already dusted off for use in Ukraine.
The real NATO codename for these is "Targets."
Imagery of trains loaded up with T-54s, which first entered service when Joseph Stalin still ruled the Soviet empire in the 1940s, and T-55s, which entered service in the late 1950s, have been circulated in media outlets including Forbes, Newsweek, and The Washington Post in recent days.
According to the Georgia-based Conflict Intelligence Team, the footage comes from the Russian Far East, near the 1295th Central Tanks and Repair Storage Base is in Arsenyev, meaning that, like recently reactivated T-62s, the venerable armour has likely — if not certainly — been refurbished for deployment to Ukraine.
Underarmoured, underpowered, and grossly undersized compared to the Western-made Challenger 2, Leopard 2, and M1 Abrams main battle tanks now being transferred to Ukraine, the possible deployment of T-54 and T-55 series tanks has been a source of much mockery among Russia’s detractors, with the likes of Carl Bildt, co-chairman of the European Council on Foreign Relations and a former Swedish prime minister, asserting it underscores how "their stocks of modern arms have been seriously depleted."