Putin will never roll out Armata tanks to battlefields in Ukraine.

As Ukraine is preparing for an all-out offensive to push back the Russian troops, the pro-war propaganda in Moscow continues to praise Russian weapons as “the best in the world, with no analogues existing.”

The highly advertised T-14 Armata Tank is no exception. But why hasn’t this vehicle been deployed to support Russian forces at a time the Ukrainian army learns to use German Leopards and American Abrams?

That’s because the Russian military don’t like Armata, says Nikolay Kolesnikov, a Russian military expert, in an interview for the Republic, an independent analytical outlet in Russia. 

As a matter of fact, Armata tanks, which are manufactured at Uralvagonzavod, exist in a limited pre-serial edition. The prototypes lack many systems that are necessary for a main battle tank to function in a fight and are good for parade only, Kolesnikov specified.

He explained, “It is impossible to stay inside an Armata for a long time. A tank is, after all, a house on tracks where a crew lives for weeks and avoids getting out over risks such as mines or snipers. Inside Armata, you can’t turn around, you can’t drink tea, and the men wear diapers all the time. […] You can drive an Armata in the Red Square, confined for a few hours, but you can’t really go for a combat with it.”

“No one will really use Armata tanks [in Ukraine]. Firstly, because there are not so many of them, and secondly, they are not suitable for warfare at all. There are a few pre-production, poorly endowed samples, mainly for parades. No one will send them to the front line. They lack half of the systems that should have been there, such as modern radars or anti-missile defense. There’s also nothing special with the canon. And in general, by their design, they are not fit for combat operations in close contact with an enemy. Therefore, the armed forces of the Russian Federation do not need them under any circumstances, since there will be no use of them,” the expert stated.

The military commanders now beg the top leadership to keep the Armata as far from the army as possible, claims Kolesnikov.

He compares the Russian vehicle with Western tanks, where the crew has enough space to walk, can use a toilet or a kitchenette to cook a meal. Nothing of the kind exists in Armata. Should Putin deploy an Armata to Ukraine, all of its weaknesses will surface. “Imagine that Ukrainian soldiers capture one of these machines and show it to the world!” Kolesnikov exclaimed.

The whole thing around Armata is just a PR activity, nothing more, the expert said.