They put them there out of poor design. The interior of Russian tanks is very cramped. The auto-matic loader they use is more likely to load the poor loaders arm into the breach. The Russkies put fuel tanks in the rear doors of their APCs. Generally Russian armor is crap.
Stereotypes and myths. Youtube has a lot of videos of Russian tanks’ interior. Just look at it to find you only may load your arm on purpose.
Generally Russian and American tanks are made with different operational requirements in mind. It leaded to absolute alternative design strategies.
True, T-72 is inferior to Abrams but it came out more than a decade earlier.
It was designed to defeat M48s&M60 (again came a decade and more earlier) and it could kill scores without breaking a sweat.
Russian legacy tanks are still as comparable to Abrams as apples to oranges but pretty adequate to engage it.
They may have a bit weaker armor and artillery but it won’t make difference because they aren’t trained to rely on artillery in tank to tank engagement, let alone the fact their main purpose is not taking on Abrams.
An idea is both Russian and American tanks are about as adequate for real NSW. They are all as good to support infantry and both are as easy food for enemy airpower.