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How Not to Recycle Your 200 Russian Tanks

Another teachable moment in Russian military management: About 200 modern Russian tanks have been discovered abandoned on the side of a road in the country's Ural mountains. Local people clambered over some of the unlocked and unguarded T-80 tanks that...

Looks like Russia’s military needs a lesson in proper metal recycling!

About 200 of Russia’s main battle tanks have been discovered abandoned on the side of a road in the country’s Ural mountains. Local people clambered over some of the unlocked and unguarded T-80 tanks that were parked in long rows in Kamishlovsk, about 100 km from the Ural city of Yekaterinburg. Now military prosecutors are trying to determine how the heck all this hazardous T-waste (“tank waste”) ended up kind of left behind like so much Soviet paraphernalia, resulting in another teachable moment for Russian military management and giving Russian drivers another reason for rubbernecking.

Russia’s military has been downsizing fast since the Soviet days, and it can sometimes be hard to tell the difference between a monument to Russia’s glorious aeronautic past and simply a discarded piece of that history.

But maybe this wasn’t just bad waste removal. Considering the recent discovery of Ukraine’s scrap metal mecha, could this be part of a secret effort to spark Russia’s homegrown DIY giant human-like battle robot industry?