As of 2024, the Lao People's Army numbered 29,100 personnel.
According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, the Kremlin is trying to attract a new ally to the war against Ukraine under the guise of implementing “humanitarian projects” in the border regions of the Russian Federation. Now the talk is about sending a combined detachment of engineering troops of the Laotian army to Russia, but it is possible that Laotian soldiers will become a new portion of “cannon fodder.”
Defense Express writes about this
Citing open sources, in particular the Military Balance reference book, the publication reported that as of 2024, the Lao People's Army numbered 29,100 people, of which the vast majority – namely 25,600 people – were in the ground forces.
From the same open sources it is known that this South Asian country has only a few dozen main battle tanks, including 15 T-54/T-55 units and another 10 T-72B1 “White Eagle” units, which the Russian Federation, according to one version, supplied to Laos in exchange for T-34s for parades.
There is information in various open sources that the Russian Federation could have actually supplied from 30 to 50 T-72B1 tanks to the Laotian army.
The armored vehicles also include a dozen PT-76, BRDM-2M, BMP-1 and more than 50 armored personnel carriers BTR-40/BTR-60, BTR-152, Dongfeng Mengshi 4×4 and ZYZ-8002 (CS/VN3).
Laos has more than 60 artillery systems, primarily towed howitzers – 105 M101, 122 mm D-30/M-30, 130 mm M-46, 155 mm M114, etc.
“The short list of weapons of the Lao People’s Army hints that the Russian Federation primarily sees this country as another replenishment of ‘cannon fodder’ to strengthen its assaults,” the publication states.
Let us recall that the losses of the Russian occupation army in the war in Ukraine are forcing the Kremlin to seek new opportunities to expand aggression by attracting allies. In this context, the joint military exercises of the Russian Federation and Belarus “Zapad-2025” pose a particular threat, according to experts.
