- The Wagner Group has struggled to recruit more fighters to support Russia in the Ukraine war.
- The group is now turning to Pornhub to lure in more soldiers, a report by the Ukrainian Pravda said.
- “Don’t whack off, go work for PMC Wagner,” an advert on Pornhub said, according to the report.
The Wagner Group, a Kremlin-linked paramilitary organization, is recruiting fighters on Pornhub in a desperate attempt to strengthen its troops, according to a report by the Ukrainian Pravda published on Wednesday.
An advertisement on the popular pornography website shows a woman licking a lollipop as a female voice says: “We are the most fucking amazing private army in the world,” Prava reported, citing several Russian media outlets.
“We are hiring fighters from all parts of Russia,” the voice continues. “Don’t whack off, apply for a job with the Wagner Group.” The advert also includes a phone number, which is reportedly linked with Wagner Group recruiters.
—Українська правда ✌️ (@ukrpravda_news) March 15, 2023
The advert was spotted by Pornhub users in Kemerovo and Volgograd regions of Russia, Pravda reported. The users did not use any VPNs or adblockers, the outlet added.
It comes amid reports that Wagner, run by Russian tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin, is having problems with recruitment as it continues to suffer heavy losses in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
In an intelligence update on Monday, the British Ministry of Defence said Wagner is also giving career talks at Russian high schools. Recruiters were “distributing questionnaires entitled ‘application of a young warrior’ to collect the contact details of interested pupils,” the update said.
Wagner’s recruitment drive comes after it announced last month that it had to stop recruiting from prisons, which it had been doing since last summer. The group’s army of prisoners had lost at least half of its available manpower, the British defense ministry said this week.
It is not clear exactly how many prisoners had been sent to fight in Ukraine, but the US Department of Defense estimated in December that the number was around 40,000.
A Ukrainian military intelligence report, published in December and first obtained by CNN, said that Wagner Group fighters, which include prisoners, “have become the disposable infantry” in Ukraine.
