Russia's First 'Tankodrome' Thrown Open To The Public

One tank park in which civilians can watch and hop on to Russian armored vehicles has just started in Prokhorovka village, in the Belgorod region in southwestern Russia. This is the node of an important tank war in World War II, 1943, according to rt.

The park will be part of a massive military museum that will be expanded here. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who supervises military programs in the cabinet, attended the opening ceremony on Saturday.

"We certainly want to continue with the project, because no other country endured what this land endured during those terrible years," he said.

"I am glad that the idea we discussed during a meeting of the Victory committee chaired by the President has begun to take shape in reality," Rogozin said, according to sputnik.

The demonstration range is open to the public and will accommodate 1,300 spectators, who can see the parade of tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles and similar hardware roll here.

The entire 11-hectare range contains "water, hills, a ruined urban landscape and a big bridge to demonstrate the capabilities of the combat vehicles." There are 12 vehicles here that will be given by the Ministry of Defense, even if five of them are just immobile exhibits.

The demonstration pieces include a BTR-80 armored personnel carrier, a BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle, a BMD-2 airborne infantry fighting vehicle and a BRDM-2 armored patrol car, according to local news website bel.ru.

"We plan to add more modern models of real combat vehicles to the museum's fleet. Any visitor will be able to ride one, feel the might of the motor roaring and the speed," Belgorod region's chief of urban development, Vitaliy Pertsev, said.

It is Russia's first public tankodrome on part with closed parks in Kubinka, Moscow, operated by a military armor research institute. It will be followed by "an indoor exposition".

A huge tank battle in July 1943 took place between the Red Army and the invading German Nazi troops near Prokhorovka in the overall Battle for Kursk. Seen as a large tank war, it helped the Soviets to gain control over the Nazis.