@LupusDei
who is winning the long game
The weapons manufacturers.
Obviously, the T-72, when going up against anything OTHER than other Soviet/Russian equipment, is a complete piece of crap. Also, the quantity versus quality debate is raging again, because quantity is an edge in and of itself, quality - in this case, meaning survivability of the tank and crew and not trying for a new record in the turret flip Olympics - is more important. It does you no good to have the largest stockpile of tanks of any nation when they're only combat effective against unsupported infantry that don't have anti-tank weapons.
The actual victory condition for Russia is a Pyrrhic one.