Photo: Anton Petrus on livejournal.com
While some of the former Soviet Union countries had their old military equipment stollen or simply turned into scrap metal, others decided they could make some money out of it. A Russian blogger who stumbled upon a military unit of the Defense Ministry in Belarus discovered a place where you can actually buy old equipment, including some bad boy military trucks.
But first a little bit of history.
The Armed Forces of Republic of Belarus were formed in 1992 using parts of the former Soviet Armed Forces on the new republic’s territory. The transformation of the former military forces, which was completed in 1997, reduced the number of its soldiers by 30,000 and restructured its leadership and military formations. At least that are some of the official numbers.
In 2005, about 1.4% of Belarus’s gross domestic product was devoted to military expenditures. In other words, like most of the countries out there do, they started to modernize their military equipment. However, it turns out some of the machines that were not considered useful for the army anymore, but would still function properly, ended up on sale.
Not only are they being purchased by anybody who knows the place, but it would seem you can even order the vehicles online. According to Anton Petrus, who is the blogger we stumbled upon, the warehouse is selling everything from T-shirts and army pants, to tanks, ATVs and some bad ass trucks.
There are also auctions you can attend, with the next one to take place on December, 23, in the capital city Minsk. “Legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and individuals who have paid the deposit are allowed to participate to the auction”, the announcement reads.
Since we’re not really that good at reading Russian feel free to fill in the blanks. Moreover, we included a nice little photo gallery so you can get a... picture out of what you could actually buy from this place.
The Armed Forces of Republic of Belarus were formed in 1992 using parts of the former Soviet Armed Forces on the new republic’s territory. The transformation of the former military forces, which was completed in 1997, reduced the number of its soldiers by 30,000 and restructured its leadership and military formations. At least that are some of the official numbers.
In 2005, about 1.4% of Belarus’s gross domestic product was devoted to military expenditures. In other words, like most of the countries out there do, they started to modernize their military equipment. However, it turns out some of the machines that were not considered useful for the army anymore, but would still function properly, ended up on sale.
Not only are they being purchased by anybody who knows the place, but it would seem you can even order the vehicles online. According to Anton Petrus, who is the blogger we stumbled upon, the warehouse is selling everything from T-shirts and army pants, to tanks, ATVs and some bad ass trucks.
There are also auctions you can attend, with the next one to take place on December, 23, in the capital city Minsk. “Legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and individuals who have paid the deposit are allowed to participate to the auction”, the announcement reads.
Since we’re not really that good at reading Russian feel free to fill in the blanks. Moreover, we included a nice little photo gallery so you can get a... picture out of what you could actually buy from this place.
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