Nothing else to add. The title says it all.
http://lana-sator.livejournal.com/145550.html
http://lana-sator.livejournal.com/149761.html
Might be interesting for some of you, guys.

Wow, wouldn't mind wander through there for an afternoon.

i can practically smell the vehicles. its a shame to see equipment liek that go to waste

oh wow, nice stumble
The second link has interesting vehicles

Yup i would gladly steal everything there ..its disheartening to see those wonderful machines laying there all abandoned and looks like forgotten .. all i can find in the forest near me is old tires and rusty drums and lots of weeds ..i want that forest near me .

Second link really blows me away!

It would be interesting to know WHY all that vehicles have been abandoned despite their good condition

A great inspiration to reproduce a diorama....Thanks a lot Alex!

What a pile of....AWESOME! Fantastic pictures Alex, thanks for posting them- some great weathering inspiration.

I'd also like to know why they were abandoned in such a manner- i.e. with much of the equipment still in decent order (at least by the looks of some of it)?

Much of it has been decommissioned I believe. Theres a thread about the second set of photos over at MP.net, that might have more informed information.

Not sure if anyone recalls but there was a thing in the news earlier this year about a half battalion of tanks being found in the woods. I've also seen photos of jets and other crazy stuff just left in the woods. A quick Google search of 'Abandoned in Russian forest' might just blow some minds.

There is a lot of tanks, ARV and trucks abandoned in Chernobyl area....but in that case we can understand why they has been left there...

Here a lot of impressive pics taken in Chernobyl area

http://lplaces.com/en/technique/auto

http://lplaces.com/en/technique/special

http://lplaces.com/en/technique/military

Interesting pics !
Too bad there's still no 1/35th scale ZiL-131 available.... (AFAIK)

Frenchy

Money. They no longer had the funds nor the man power to keep these things operational. And Russians being Russians, they never throw anything away. There was a time shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union when you could buy these things for next to nothing. Just had to find a way to get them delivered. I would love to have one of those BTRs. Judgeing from the pics of the 2nd set of photos this looks like it was an Air Defense unit with the Spoon Rest RADAR being the key ID feature.

Roy

I think you are right.
I was thinking command group with the BTR's w telescoping antenna, but the pics with the radar came up.

wild stuff, just imagining it sitting around out there.

Yes, that's a pity indeed

Both of those photo sets look like something straight out of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and that will always be cool.

S.TA.L.K.E.R was running through my mind too! Now to find where they hid them T-35s and T-28s!

How many shades of Russian green can you make out lol?

link 2 would make a nice dio setting


LOL

Cool stuff, although I wouldn't want to explore too much if there's potentially live rounds laying around (near bottom of 2nd link) and I certainly wouldn't be trying to move it around with my foot!

Jim

Yes, judging by the rockets (in the end of the first link) and the radar stations it was probably some air defense station. I was actually surprised that so much valuable stuff didn't get stolen. Just two diesel generators alone could make a nice sale on any market I think...





You can make out tri-color camo on some vehicles for sure.



She wasn't moving it. She was just comparing its size to her foot.

As mentioned above it is money, they no longer had the cash to operate that equipment. The link below has pictures of naval vessels rusting away near Murmansk. A small truck is one thing, but it amazes me they don't cut those ships apart to recycle the steel.

http://englishrussia.com/2007/01/04/murmansk-military-objects/

it's really sad that all of this equipment were abandoned, i feel badly, it's like a perfect movie but ended sad...