The former head of Roscosmos and the vice-prime minister of Russia, Dmytro Rogozin, photographed himself on board a Russian howitzer in NATO equipment, the Moscow press writes that he is on the front lines.

The video, with patriotic music playing in the background, went viral on social media after initially sweeping Russian Telegram channels, showing Rogozin in a Russian army combat vehicle.

Although the footage was most likely taken for propaganda purposes, Russian media insist that Dmytro Rogozin is at the front.

For example, the ultra-nationalist website Tsargrad, which recently published Alexander Dugin’s scathing attack on Putin, reports that Rogozin has been talking to front-line soldiers and relaying their views to the Kremlin after Dmytro Peskov recently said that the purpose of the “special forces operation” was not to change the political leadership in Kyiv.

“Rogozin emphasizes that the military has its own view on this issue. According to him, volunteers on the front line believe that the Kyiv junta deserves the death penalty,” Tsargrad writes.

“They believe that the leaders of the fascist junta in Kyiv should be hanged on the chestnut tree closest to Kyiv. Please take it into account,” “Tsargrad” quotes Rogozin, who, according to Russian journalists, is on the front lines as a “military instructor.”

A Russian nationalist, a fan of NATO equipment

Several photos published by Rogozin and Russian propaganda channels, however, caused outrage among Russian military bloggers and Russian military correspondents, who noted that the former head of Roscosmos was dressed almost head-to-toe in only NATO military gear.

The situation is all the more ironic because before being appointed head of Roscosmos in 2018, Rogozin was Russia’s deputy prime minister responsible for the domestic arms industry.

“Rogozin went to ‘fight NATO’ in NATO gear,” sarcastically wrote journalists at Nasha Niva, the oldest Belarusian daily newspaper that is now published abroad after being banned by the Minsk authorities because of its opposition to Alexander Lukashenko’s regime.

“Indignant military correspondents were the first to draw attention to the unpatriotic uniforms of the “heads of the special military operation advisory group” on their channels,” Nasha Niva reminds.

How much is the NATO equipment that Dmytro Rogozin wore “at the front”?

Administrators of the popular Telegram channel in Russia conducted a thorough analysis of Rogozin’s equipment, noting that he was wearing a jacket from an Austrian company in Carinthia, which before the start of the “special forces operation” could cost up to 80,000 rubles (about 1,300 US dollars) in Russia.

He is protected by a Turkish BIKATEX bulletproof vest worth 6 thousand rubles, or about 100 dollars.

Russian military correspondents said they wondered why he was not using Russia’s multi-purpose Ratnik body armor, which Rogozin himself praised and called for mass production back in 2013, when he was in charge of defense coordination. industry. armament of the country.

The vest he wears has holsters for a German MP-5 assault rifle and a Belgian FN SCAR-H assault rifle. The base price for them starts at 350,000 rubles ($5,770).

In one of the pictures, Rogozin also posed with an American AR-15 rifle and a pistol similar to the Austrian-made Glock-18.

Including the boots he is wearing, they are produced abroad, this is the Slovak brand Zephyr (the cost of the model is $412). The only Russian equipment Rogozin wears is his $2,000 helmet made by Armokom near Moscow.

In general, the equipment and weapons exhibited by Dmitry Rogozin are worth about one million rubles, or almost 16.5 thousand dollars.

Russian President Vladimir Putin replaced Rogozin as head of Roskomsos in mid-July, but sources close to the Kremlin said it was not because he had fallen out of favor but because the Russian president wanted to appoint him to a more important post.

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