Navalny's Face Used in Advertisement for Contract Service. Recruiters Called It a Mistake

In April, an advertisement for contract service appeared in the VKontakte group "Contract for SMO • Selection for Rear • Kaliningrad," featuring Alexei Navalny. Publicist Oleg Kashin drew attention to this. The post has now been deleted, and the recruiters themselves told "Agentstvo" that it was a mistake. More details about the advertisement. The post with the advertisement appeared on VK on April 4. It spoke about the possibility of earning over 7 million rubles in a year of participating in the war, enough to buy an apartment in Kaliningrad. "Agentstvo" journalists wrote to the WhatsApp number indicated in the ad. They replied, "Of course, this shouldn't have happened, but apparently something went wrong with the marketer's plan." The post was soon deleted. What is known about the recruiters. "Agentstvo" found out that the advertisement indicated the website address of "Rodina Geroyev" (Homeland of Heroes) – an organization that recruits Russians for the war in several regions. The company's main office is located in Rostov-on-Don at the same address as the Rostov Oblast government and the regional Department for Cossack Affairs and Cadet Institutions, "Vot tak" notes. Punishments for Navalny's image. Previously, Russian courts have repeatedly handed down punishments to citizens for posting photos with Navalny online. Both members of the moderately liberal Yabloko party and Z-bloggers have been prosecuted. Russian authorities consider this as a demonstration of "extremist" symbolism. However, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs deny this.