Russian military unimpressed by captured Swedish armor

The Russian military has expressed scepticism over the capabilities of a Swedish CV90 tracked armored vehicle, captured by soldiers during the conflict with Ukraine.

The dismissive comments can be heard in a video which the Defense Ministry released on Friday to report a visit by ministry chief, Sergey Shoigu, to a command post involved in the Ukrainian operation. Commander Andrey Mordvichev showed the trophy to the visiting official.

Mordvichev noted that the Swedish-made vehicle, which has been in service since 1993, resembles a tank. However, the one captured by the Russian troops was defeated by a “simple and cheap” RPG-7, a shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenade launcher that has been in use since the 1960s.

“The vehicle was stopped with the tool of our grandfathers,” the commander said.

The donated armor also lacked spare parts and tools for field repair, but did have a kit to indicate an emergency stop, Mordvichev told the minister.

The CV90 is quite tall, making it a relatively easy target, and its main weapon has a relatively low rate of fire because of its reloading mechanism, according to the Russian military.

The vehicle captured by the Russian troops appears to be armed with the Bofors 40/70 autocannon. It fires 40mm cartridges, which are fed through a magazine that has three separate compartments for three different ammunition types, with total capacity of 24 rounds. The magazine is loaded manually.

Mordvichev confirmed that the CV90 had several types of cartridges on board, but said their overall number was low.

The Russian capture of Swedish armor was reported in late July, marking the first time this particular weapon platform had been seized during the Ukraine conflict. Its driver and gunner were killed, the commander said during the tour.