In response to the questioned posed to me in a thread that got closed for an unrelated reason:
Russians did use a bit of T-80 tanks:
http://www.southossetiaconflict.org/?tag=news
"British Sky News: same picture. First report: footage of Grads firing, and a comment of “Georgian side states that 7 of its citizens have been wounded in Russian strikes”. Followed by footage of Russian tanks rolling into Ossetia. 1500 people killed by Georgians? Tskhinvali in ruins? Too unimportant to notice. Instead they show a split picture: on the left reservists drafted by Saakashvili standing around in civil clothes looking clueless, and on the right modern Russian T-80 tanks with reactive armor and BTRs rolling by. Another great (not-so-)subtle way to brainwash people into believing the “right” story."
Also from:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008...e-south-osset/ (Yeah, typing five more letters was soooo hard...)
"One Georgian tank unit lost 400 out of 500 soldiers [to Russian T-80 tanks], according to an Ossetian soldier and blogger fighting for the Russians. But tank killers from the Georgian infantry, armed with unidentified guided missiles — allegedly of Israeli origin — sparked a minor panic and a major diplomatic row between Russia and Israel, when they destroyed several T-80s"
Not entirely true about the panic, because Georgia lost 400 troops, Russia lost a few, like 4-5 tanks, which is roughly 20 men, that's a 1 to 20 casualty ratio, I doubt it'll bring about panic.
Russian Tanks
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