Russia offers troops £930 cash bonuses for any US or UK tanks they destroy

Russia has offered troops bonus payments for every Western-made tank they destroy.

Russian troops will receive a £930 payment for destroying German-made Leopard tanks and any other armoured vehicles supplied by ‘NATO countries’ – which would include Britain and the US.

It comes as Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Sunday awarded the ‘Hero of Russia gold star’ medal to soldiers who had destroyed the armoured equipment being used in Kyiv’s counter-offensive.

It is part of a wider reward scheme under which more than 10,000 Russian servicemen have received bonuses since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine nearly 16 months ago.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said: ‘Payments are currently being made to servicemen of the Russian Federation Armed Forces who in the course of military operations destroyed Leopard tanks, as well as armoured fighting vehicles made in the USA and other NATO countries.’

Russian troops will receive a £930 payment for destroying German-made Leopard tanks and any other armoured vehicles supplied by ‘NATO countries’. Pictured: Destroyed US and German-made tanks in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, last week

A total of 10,257 servicemen had been rewarded for destroying 16,001 items of Ukrainian and Western military equipment up to May 31, the ministry claimed.

It added that an enemy armoured vehicle was worth 50,000 roubles (£467) and a tank 100,000 roubles (£930), it said.

Military pilots and air defence operators received 300,000 roubles (£2800) for every destroyed Ukrainian plane or helicopter. 

Hits on Tochka-U and U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket launch systems are rewarded with the same amount.

In March, state advertisements suggested Russian recruits were being offered up to £530 for every kilometre of ground gained in Ukraine. 

One advertisement posted by a council in the Yaroslavl region promised a £3,100 sign-up bonus and an extra £530 for ‘each kilometre of advancement within assault teams’.

A total of 10,257 servicemen had been rewarded for destroying 16,001 items of Ukrainian and Western military equipment up to May 31, the ministry claimed. Pictured: three British-made Challenger 2 tanks in Ukraine

It added that an enemy armoured vehicle was worth 50,000 roubles (£467) and a tank 100,000 roubles (£930), it said. Pictured: Two German-made Leopard 2 tanks

The advertisements offering recruits cash incentives appeared on Government websites and social media accounts of libraries and high schools across Russia.

It came as Vladimir Putin desperately tried to avoid another round of unpopular mobilisation – which last year saw tens of thousands of men fleeing the country.

The Yaroslavl advertisement also offered a monthly salary of £2,000 plus £80 a day for ‘involvement in active offensive operations’.

Enlistment offices were working with universities and social services to entice students and the unemployed to sign up for the military, with makeshift recruitment centres popping up in cities and towns.

But Russia analyst Kateryna Stepanenko questioned whether the recruitment drive would be successful. 

She told the Telegraph: ‘They’ve already recruited a significant proportion of people that were financially incentivised. And they struggled to do that last year.’

Enlistment offices were working with universities and social services to entice students and the unemployed to sign up for the military

Putin announced Russia’s first mobilisation since the Second World War on September 21 last year.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the time that some 300,000 additional personnel would be drafted.

But the mobilisation proceeded chaotically with many highly publicised cases of call-up notices going to the wrong men. 

Tens of thousands of men also fled Russia to avoid being drafted into Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.