Russian Defence Ministry: more than 10,000 service members received payments for destroying Ukraine’s military equipment

The Russian Defence Ministry has reported that more than 10,000 of its service members have received payments as a reward for successfully eliminating Ukraine’s military equipment and vehicles in the Ukraine war.

In 2022, 7,064 soldiers were rewarded with money for destroying 11,600 units of hardware and vehicles, while 3,193 more secured payments for destroying 4,415 pieces of equipment, the agency claims.

The Defence Ministry assured that “there are no limitations in place to preclude service members from getting the payments based on the number of hardware units they destroyed previously”.

Earlier, an analysis conducted by Novaya Gazeta Europe revealed a discrepancy in the Russian Defence Ministry’s reports, suggesting that the Russian military claimed to have destroyed more Ukrainian military equipment than Ukraine actually possessed.

“As of 8 December, Russia allegedly destroyed 44 HIMARS, while at that point NATO allies only shipped 35 HIMARS systems and its analogues [to Ukraine]. At the same time, there is still no convincing proof that a single HIMARS system was indeed destroyed,” the article reads.

Previously, Russian air force lieutenant Dmitry Mishov told BBC in Russian after escaping Russia that the same units of hardware are “destroyed” several times to obtain rewards.

“I think that the statistics are like that because the military equipment is destroyed a few times to get the payments. And lower commanders report to the higher ones that they are doing just fine. <…> And [spokesperson for the Defence Ministry Igor] Konashenkov probably puts it all together. So, what I described is when one tank is destroyed several times!” Mishov said.

On 13 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Russian military bloggers. During the event, one of the invited reporters complained that service members are not getting rewarded for destroying Ukraine’s military equipment. “The fact that money is not getting paid is surprising to me. I will definitely revisit this today in a conversation with the Defence Ministry,” Putin responded.