Moscow film studio donates tanks to troops

Russia’s largest film studio has donated dozens of its Soviet-era tanks, which were previously used as props on film sets, to Russian troops, the CEO of the studio has told President Vladimir Putin.

Mosfilm owns a large fleet of military vehicles and artillery pieces, including those “disguised” to look like foreign equipment, according to its website. 

During a meeting on Wednesday with Putin in the Kremlin, Mosfilm CEO Karen Shakhnazarov, an acclaimed Soviet and Russian filmmaker, said that the studio had decided to share some of its stocks with the Defense Ministry. 

“I became aware that there was a need, and had contacted the Defense Ministry. They took the vehicles,” Shakhnazarov told Putin. 

According to the filmmaker, last year the studio donated 28 T-55 medium tanks, eight PT-76 amphibious tanks, six BMP armored vehicles, and eight unspecified recovery vehicles. He did not specify how the equipment would be used.

Mosfilm provided 6 million rubles ($61,000) “for the needs of the special military operation in Ukraine in 2024,” the CEO said.

Founded in 1924 in the Soviet Union, Mosfilm quickly became the country’s leading production company and remains one the largest studios in Europe.

It has produced more than 2,500 feature films and documentaries, including ‘War and Peace’ and ‘Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears’, which won Oscars as best foreign-language films in 1968 and 1980, respectively.