"One million rubles for each drone destroyed"
Amid growing fears of Ukrainian attacks, the far northern gas-producing region of Yamalo-Nenets is ready to pay locals generously for downed drones.
Mobile fire groups will receive one million rubles (€10,500) for each drone destroyed, the regional government announced. The announcement came after a Ukrainian UAV recently reached Novy Urengoy—Russia’s "natural gas capital," located about 3,000 kilometres from the front line in Ukraine.
The sum will be shared among members of a mobile fire group that succeeds in destroying an incoming enemy drone. However, the money, which comes from the regional budget, will only be paid if the targeted facility suffers no damage.
The Yamalo-Nenets region is also introducing payments for joining fire groups: 100,000 rubles for employed citizens and 150,000 for the unemployed. Joining a mobile fire group requires signing a contract with the Ministry of Defence.
The Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District is situated several thousand kilometres from Ukraine, yet even this remote Arctic region has come under drone attack. On 9 September, a UAV struck a plant in Novy Urengoy—a town responsible for 74% of all gas produced in Russia.
Reportedly, also the Purovsky Gas Condensate Processing Plant near Tarko-Sale was targeted in the same attack. The latter plant is owned and operated by Novatek and has an annual production of more than 13.2 million tons.
Satellite images have confirmed that the Purovsky plant was damaged in the attack, Telegram channel CyberBoroshno reported.
The region now periodically declares drone alerts and restricts civilian aviation.
The Yamal-Nenets region also houses several oil production facilities, as well as major LNG plants. The Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG 2 are both located in the northern part of the region.
