Why informants in pre-revolutionary Russia were rewarded with 30 pieces of silver

In pre-revolutionary Russia, undercover employees of the police and gendarmerie received a salary of 30 rubles a year. Especially valuable informants were rewarded much more generously: payments could reach 3,000 and even 30,000 rubles a year. Interestingly, reward amounts traditionally remained multiples of 30 rubles. According to historians, this rule was never officially recorded anywhere, but its meaning was obvious to contemporaries: it recalled the 30 pieces of silver that Judas received for his betrayal.

30 rubles a year is an amount close to destitution. By comparison, a miner could receive from 39 to 57 rubles a month. Such a meager payment underscored the despised status of informers in society.