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Too many families back in Russia that would be held hostage.
Historian Paul Matzko, another supporter, notes the successful historical precedent of American efforts to incentivize defections by Hessian German troops hired by the British during the Revolutionary War
For all the Hessians who died on American battlefields, nearly as many remained behind under kinder circumstances. Many Hessians who arrived in this lush, free land quickly realized they were fighting for the wrong side. Approximately 3,000 Hessians deserted during the course of the war, fully a tenth of the entire force.
That was in part the result of a policy choice, one of the earliest actions of the new Continental Congress. In August 1776, Congress commissioned agents of German ancestry to go and pass out handbills near Hessian encampments on Staten Island, offering them clemency if they deserted. More than a few absconded to the already established German immigrant settlements in Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic states. That led to growing frustration among the German princes in the old country as they struggled to find capable replacements in order to avoid defaulting on their mercenary contracts. It was a brilliant strategic decision. Whether dead on the battlefield in White Plains, New York, or alive and farming a field in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, it meant one fewer Hessian soldier in the fight for American independence.
Ukraine has done this.
They sent text messages to Russians offering $10,000 for defecting with a tank and possible Ukraine citizenship.
Clever those Ukrainian guys
It would be much cheaper to simply shoot them and keep the tank, and the Russian soldiers no doubt realize this.
Let me guess where the $10k is coming from. It sure as shit isn't coming from the tax revenues of the Gabon of Europe.
Probably the story is false.
clambo saysUkraine has done this.
They sent text messages to Russians offering $10,000 for defecting with a tank and possible Ukraine citizenship.
Clever those Ukrainian guys
Let me guess where the $10k is coming from. It sure as shit isn't coming from the tax revenues of the Gabon of Europe.
richwicks says
Probably the story is false.
False in what way? In "such thing never announced"? Or "nobody ever collected"?
Nobody enters the military thinking "my government is a lying piece of shit!"
richwicks saysNobody enters the military thinking "my government is a lying piece of shit!"
Conscripts do.
https://reason.com/volokh/2022/03/01/offer-asylum-to-russian-soldiers-who-surrender/?source=patrick.net