Russia scraps outdated tanks, armoured vehicles

Moscow -  Outdated tanks and armoured vehicles will be scrapped in a "massive" scheme launched by the Russian defence ministry, a military official said.

"From 2011 onward, in accordance with a government decree, the defence ministry has begun taking outdated automobiles and armoured vehicles out of service and getting rid of them,"  said Gen. Maj. Alexander Shevchenko.

The scheme involves T-80, T-64, T-55, tanks as well as a number of army trucks.

Shevchenko did not disclose the exact number of vehicles to be destroyed, but the erstwhile Soviet Union produced thousands of such tanks from the 1950s to the 1990s and stored many of  them.