A promotional post about contract service in the Russian army was discovered on VK, using an AI-generated image of politician Alexei Navalny. Journalist Oleg Kashin was the first to draw attention to the publication.
The post was reportedly published on April 4 in the group “Kontrakt na SVO . Kaliningrad,” which has two subscribers. At the same time, about 40 other posts advertising contract service were also published.
The posts invited users to sign a contract through an organization called Rodina Geroev, listed on the website rodina-geroev.com. In its contact section, the site gave the address 112 Sotsialisticheskaya Street, Rostov-on-Don. That address is home to the Rostov regional government and other state institutions. The site also listed a mobile phone number.
The same website said that people up to 64 years old could sign a “contract for the SVO,” including those with any level of experience, people deemed partially fit for service, and those with criminal records or debts. It also promised assistance with freezing and writing off debts.
Journalists also found at least one more related website, kontrakt-svo2025.ru. It listed the same address on Sotsialisticheskaya Street but a different mobile number. The design and text on the two sites differed, and the second site contained no other contact details.
The site rodina-geroev.com published a sole proprietor registration number and taxpayer ID linked to Alexander Chernyshov from the Rostov region. His primary business activity is listed as a personnel recruitment agency. At the same time, there is also a nonprofit called Rodina Geroev in the region, registered in Aksay to a different businesswoman under different registration details.
“A random person. Looks similar, probably.”
That was the reply, according to the Polish outlet Vot Tak!, when reporters called the number listed by Rodina Geroev and asked why Navalny’s likeness had been used in the ad. The outlet Agentstvo, which contacted a company representative through WhatsApp, was told that it was “a generated image,” and that the incident apparently happened because “something went wrong with the marketer’s work.” By the time the news report was published, the post with the image of Navalny had already been deleted, while the other advertisements remained online.