WATCH Russian Army SHOOT burning Siberian oil well with anti-tank gun to put out fire

Russia's Defense Ministry has carried out an unusual operation in Eastern Siberia. Soldiers helped put out a blaze at an oil well by demolishing the burning wellhead with point-blank fire from an anti-tank gun.

Troops from the Central Military District, still wearing their Covid-19 protection masks, can be seen maneuvering the T-12 cannon off a trailer, and positioning it a mere 180 meters (200 yards) away from the target, then repeatedly shooting it with 100mm shells.

The operation, in the Irkutsk region, was carried out “with a jeweler’s precision,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement accompanying the video.

With the burning wellhead superstructure demolished, firefighters were then able to get the blaze under control by inserting a pipe into the well.

While it is commonplace to use explosives in handling oil field fires, it is highly unusual to deploy military anti-tank weapons for the role. The Irkutsk Oil Company subsidiary that owns the field called in the military on Friday, having had no luck in putting out the fire that broke out on May 30. The weapon and its crew were flown in from Samara, some 4,500km away.

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