MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. Russian Senator Alexander Karelin handed in a certificate worth 1 million rubles (about $11,840) to Russian soldier Andrey Kravtsov for destroying a German-made Leopard tank in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.
"A 1-million-ruble reward was handed in to Russian serviceman Andrey Kravtsov at the Vishnevsky National Medical Research Center for destroying a Leopard tank in battle. The reward was instituted by the Siberian Care entrepreneurial fund," the ministry said in a statement.
The sum paid out is an additional bonus to the funds that the Defense Ministry allocates to servicemen for seizing enemy military equipment and does not replace it, the ministry stressed.
Kravtsov sustained a severe wound in the battle. Despite that, he expressed his desire to remain in the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces after undergoing advanced training at the Vishnevsky Center.
"I believe that once we took the oath of the Russian Federation, we must not sit idle," the soldier said.
As Russia’s Defense Ministry reported, over 10,000 Russian army personnel have received payments since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine for destroying or seizing enemy military hardware.