Russian Regional Governor Offers Bounty on NATO Tanks in Ukraine

Russia's Trans-Baikal Regional government has offered a bounty of upto three million rubles ($43,000) for capturing or eliminating NATO tanks during the current war with Ukraine, the region’s Governor Alexander Osipov told the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Tuesday.

Ospipov signed a decree authorizing payment ranging from 100,000 rubles ( $1,400) to 3 mln rubles ( $43,000) for participating in the elimination or capture of NATO tanks such as Abrams and Leopard. The payments will be made from the region's budget.

The maximum payout will be provided to any serviceman who captures an operational Leopard tank. That said, the document recommends troops contain their bravery if it jeopardizes the implementation of combat tasks.

"We’ll see what happens - whether these payments will happen, what their volume will be. I think that there are definitely funds in the regional budget for the first payments. If it suddenly turns out that a lot [of tanks] are being burned, in this case we’ll see and get [residents] involved [to raise funds]," the governor said.

In the Trans-Baikal Region, mobilized residents receive a lump-sum payment of 150,000 rubles (over $2,100) each. Additionally, the families of the special military operation’s participants in the region are exempt from paying kindergarten fees while schoolchildren receive subsidized meals.