In 2023, the International Army Games (ArMI), which were previously initiated by Russia, will not be held. This is reported by TASS with reference to two sources close to the Ministry of Defense.
Now international games among military personnel will be held only once every two years. “Accordingly, this year the competitions were canceled, the next games will be held in 2024,” the source said. parties.» There has been no official confirmation of the cancellation of the competition yet.
ArMI-2023 was planned to be held in Russia and on the territory of several foreign countries. The program of the games includes tank biathlon, horse marathon, off-road rally, landing and competitions for marine crews, engineering units and field kitchens.
Since 2015, at the initiative of Russia, the International Army Games have been held annually. Last year, competitions were held on the territory of 11 more countries besides Russia, including Azerbaijan, Algeria, Armenia, Belarus, Venezuela, Vietnam, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China and Uzbekistan.
In September 2022, the Ukraine Weapons Tracker project found out that Russia had lost three tanks designed specifically for tank biathlon in a battle near the Ukrainian village of Bogorodichnoye in the Donetsk region. The project clarified that two «extremely rare» T-72B3 tanks of the 2014 model were destroyed, one went to the Ukrainian military.
After the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, at least two ArmI champions in tank biathlon — Bato Basanov and Alexei Bakulev — died. It is also known about the death in Ukraine of participants in regional and city competitions in tank biathlon Sergey Andryushchenko, Maxim Zharky and Alexei Magzhanov.
Updated at 18:18. Added information about the participants in army competitions, killed during the war in Ukraine.