Putin's new tank breaks down during Victory Day parade rehearsal
Seventy years ago, Soviet tanks made it all the way to Berlin, but this week one of the newest Russian tanks struggled to make it all the way across Red Square.
The next-generation tank appeared to stall during the final rehearsal for a major military parade in Moscow to mark the 70th anniversary of victory in the second world war.
The Armata tank, which is on display for the first time, ground to a halt during the rehearsal, in an incident later claimed to have been a deliberate test.
President Vladimir Putin will welcome the leaders of India, China and many other countries to Moscow for the parade tomorrow, although few western leaders will attend, and defence ministry officials will be scrambling to ensure there is no repeat of the incident.
The Armata is highly computerised, and there have even been suggestions it could form the basis for a fully automated robot tank in future.
It is the first major tank to be developed in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union, and is based on a fundamentally new design rather than just an update of older models.
There are plans to build more than 2,000 of them, although this figure may come down due to the high costs and recent economic downturn.
The tank, which will eventually be called the T-14, has not yet been delivered to the army and is still undergoing factory tests.
During earlier parade rehearsals, the tanks were kept partially covered in fabric to avoid revealing their design.
The tank that ground to a halt in Red Square later started moving of its own accord after an unsuccessful attempt to tow it away.
It was later announced over a loudspeaker that the tank’s stop had been planned in advance, and was a rehearsal for any emergency situation that might happen during the parade, a Russian newspaper reported.
Most western leaders are staying away in protest at Russia’s actions in Ukraine, though Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, will visit Moscow a day later to lay a wreath at a war memorial.
The British Foreign Office announced on Thursday that Britain would be represented at the parade by Sir Nicholas Soames, a Conservative MP, former defence minister and the grandson of Winston Churchill.
“The commemorations mark the joint struggle of our two countries against Nazism and the sacrifice of our brave soldiers and civilians who lost their lives fighting for our freedom,” a Foreign Office spokesperson said.
“As grandson of Britain’s wartime prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Nicholas has a unique link to the second world war alliance between Britain and Russia.
”The Kremlin had been expecting North Korea’s Kim Jong-un to attend, in what would have been his first foreign trip as leader, but the Kremlin announced last week that he would not be travelling because of “internal Korean affairs”.
Russian officials have criticised the west for “politicising” the event with the boycott, pointing to the enormous losses the Soviet army and people suffered during the war.
But the 9 May holiday has been turned into a nation-building date during Putin’s time in the Kremlin, and has been given clear political overtones.
This year, there are stalls around Moscow selling T-shirts extolling the victory over Nazism and featuring Putin’s portrait.
The orange-and-black ribbon worn to commemorate the victory has become the symbol of the pro-Russia separatist fighters in east Ukraine.
