A Russian company has offered a cash bounty of up to 5 million rubles ($71,648) for the destruction or capture of Western-made tanks recently promised to Ukraine by its European and American allies.
Multiple Western countries including the United States and Germany announced they would provide advanced combat tanks to help boost Kyiv's military capacity last week, prompting Moscow to threaten any tanks shipped to Kyiv with destruction.
Fores, the Yekaterinburg-based company behind the offer, said on Friday that in addition to the 5-million-ruble bounty for the capture or destruction of the first tank, it would also pay out 500,000 rubles ($7,164) for each subsequent tank.
“The decision to transfer western tanks to Kyiv indicates that NATO is no longer supplying Ukraine with defensive weapons only and means that we need to consolidate and support our army,” Fores said in a statement.
Fores did not respond to a request for comment by The Moscow Times.
Last week, the governor of Siberia's Zabaikalsky region Alexander Osipov also promised a bounty of up to 3 million rubles ($42,900) for the capture of a German-made Leopard 2 tank and 1.5 million rubles (for $21,450) for the capture of an American M1 Abrams.
Russian regional volunteer battalions also offered one-time payments and bonuses for the destruction of enemy heavy weaponry, including payments of up to 300,000 rubles ($4,290) for destroying an enemy tank or aircraft.
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