Reward of 65,000 euros to Russian soldiers who destroy a Leopard tank | International

The shipment of modern Western tanks to Ukraine has upset the mood of the Russian authorities, who have made the word “burn” a dogma of all their public statements. One governor, the head of Siberia's Transbaikal region, has gone further, promising to pay rewards for the destruction of the feared German-made European Leopard 2 and American M-1 Abrams. For its part, a Russian company has also offered large sums for this “big game”. Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, has blessed these initiatives and has encouraged other politicians to join the initiative by offering more prizes to intensify their offensive on Ukraine. "That way there will be more enthusiasts," said the Kremlin representative.

The Transbaikal governorate, located on the border with Mongolia, has issued a decree that will pay one million rubles (about 13,000 euros at the current unstable exchange rate) to each citizen of that province who destroys a Leopard car, and half if it is destroyed. It's an M1-Abrams. In the event that the blasting is a team effort, of up to five people, each of them will receive 150,000 rubles (1,960 euros) for the European armored vehicle and 100,000 (1,300) for the American one.

The "live" capture of the piece is more coveted. For this reason, the governor of Transbaikal, Alexander Osipov, offers the military to act alone three million rubles (39,200 euros) for a Leopard, regardless of the model taken, and a million and a half (19,600) for the Abrams. If they capture the Leopard among several soldiers, each one would get half a million rubles (about 6,540 euros).

The average salary in Transbaikal is around 59,796 rubles a month, about 782 euros, according to the state statistics agency Rosstat. In addition, the province is going through a tough economic situation and expects a deficit of 7.3 billion rubles this year. Since the rewards far exceed the income of its citizens, the governorate of the region asks them to control their momentum from the decree itself: “When trying to capture or destroy the aforementioned tanks, it is recommended that you temper your courage and act reasonably to ensure that they unconditionally fulfill combat missions and preserve the life and health of the personnel of the Russian Armed Forces”.

The governor of that Siberian region later remarked that "there are many hunters" in his area and they are "people prepared for anything." "Whenever someone wants to scare them with some kind of tank, they'll jump right in and show 'Kuzka's mother' all this foreign machinery," Osipov said. “Kuzka's mother” is a Russian expression equivalent to teaching someone a lesson.

For its part, the Fores company has made a similar promise: it offers five million rubles for the first tank destroyed, more than 65,300 euros, although for the following tanks it reduces the prize to half a million rubles. In addition, the company is also promising a stratospheric pledge of 15 million rubles for the downing of F-15 and F-16 aircraft. Despite kyiv's requests, Washington and most of its allies are reluctant and do not plan to send them because they consider the delivery of such material a red line.

"They will burn the tanks, especially if there are these incentives," Putin's spokesman said of his troops. Praising all these rewards, Peskov stated that they will contribute "directly, or indirectly, to the achievement of the objectives of the special military operation."

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