Russia's Wagner Army Recruits Fighters From Pornhub, Launches Suggestive Ad On Porn Site

Russia's infamous Wagner private military company (PMC) has begun placing advertisements on a porn site in hopes of recruiting more fighters for its ranks amid the war in Ukraine.

The private army, founded by Russian President Vladimir Putin's close ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, has placed an ad on Pornhub urging men to stop pleasuring themselves and instead work for the Wagner group, which it claimed was the "coolest private army in the world."

"We are the f–king coolest private army in the world," a female voice says in the ad as another woman is seen twirling a lollipop in her mouth. "We are recruiting fighters from all regions of Russia. Don't whack off, go work for PMC Wagner."

A phone number that has been linked to recruiters for the Wagner Group then appears on the screen.

In a Telegram post, Prigozhin confirmed that the ad was placed on Pornhub's website, calling it the "good idea" of the Wagner group's marketing experts.

"The placement of the ad on porn websites is the good idea of our marketing experts. I fully agree with them. The ad says: Go fight along with the Wagner private military campaign, stop masturbating. And who disagrees with that?" Prigozhin said in a statement, as translated by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

The video, which can be accessed by Pornhub users in Russia who do not use VPN or adblocks, has been shared on Telegram channels by people living in the Kemerovo and Volgograd regions, as reported by the Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda.

It is unclear how long the video has been up on Pornhub and how many times the Wagner group's recruitment ad has been viewed.

Apart from its recruitment tactics on Pornhub, members of the Wagner group have also been giving "career talks" in several high schools in Moscow and collecting the contact information of students, as per the British Ministry of Defense.

The Wagner group has played a key role in Russia's war against Ukraine. Thousands of fighters for the group were recruited from penal colonies across Russia. However, Prigozhin last month said the recruitment operations were suspended by the Russian Defense Ministry which has reportedly begun its own recruitment efforts in Russian penitentiaries.