A governor, the head of Siberia's Transbaikal region has promised to pay hefty rewards for the destruction of the feared German-made European Leopard 2 tank and the American M-1 Abrams. Following this, a Russian company also offered a reward for what many call "The Great Game".
Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, blessed the initiatives by encouraging other politicians to follow suit.
The governorate of Transbaikal, located on the border with Mongolia, has issued a decree in which it will pay one million rubles (about 13.000 euros) to each citizen of that province who destroys a Leopard tank, and half if it is an M1 -Abrams. In the event that the destruction takes place thanks to the participation of a team (up to five people), each of them will receive 150.000 rubles (1.960 euros) for the European armored car and 100.000 (1.300) for the American one.
The capture of the undamaged vehicle has more value: 39.200 euros for a Leopard, regardless of the model taken, and 19.600 for the Abrams.
The average salary in Transbaikal is about 59.796 rubles a month, about 782 euros, according to the state agency Rosstat. In addition, the province is experiencing a difficult economic situation and is projecting a deficit of 7,3 billion rubles this year. There Russian Fores company offers five million rubles for the first tank destroyed, more than 65.300 euros, although for subsequent tanks it reduces the prize to half a million rubles.