Russia to reinforce Western Military District with T-90M tanks to counter NATO

In response to NATO actions, Russia will reinforce the Western Military District (Zapadny Voenny Okrug — ZVO) with modern T-90M Proryv (Breakthrough) tanks. These tanks are not inferior to the prospective T-14 Armata tank in terms of their performance characteristics, the Izvestia newspaper wrote with reference to the Defense Ministry.

According to the publication, new tanks will be used both to re-equip both existing military units and newly formed ones. The terms to supply the new tanks to the Western Military District will depend on the implementation of the state defense order, the newspaper said.

According to military expert Alexei Leonkov, the T-90M Proryv tank was created "taking into account combat capabilities of prospective anti-tank systems. The tank has a new dynamic protection system, new ammunition, including fin-stabilised, discarding sabot projectile, the specialist said.

Military expert Vladislav Shurygin added that "the creation of new military units in the Western Military District comes as a response to the strengthening of the NATO grouping near the Russian borders."

In August, Military Watch publication said that the upgraded T-90M Proryv tanks was the most combat-ready combat vehicle of the Russian army.