A fake has appeared on social media claiming that Rosgvardiya is recruiting staff for the “busification” of draft dodgers ahead of a general mobilization. The posts feature an AI-generated poster.
The fake consists of two already well-known narratives: mobilization and “busification.” The first has existed for many years but still finds no confirmation. On April 30, Dmitry Medvedev denied rumors of mobilization, stating that 127,000 people had signed contracts with the Russian Armed Forces since the beginning of the year.
“Last year, as a result of all military contracts, 450,000 people entered service. This year, as of today, 127,000 of our citizens have signed a contract for military service, and another ten thousand have signed a contract to serve in volunteer formations — essentially the same contract service, though less directly linked to the Ministry of Defense, even though these guys perform the same tasks,” Medvedev said.
As for “busification,” the situation is more complex. Raids in public places have indeed been recorded in Russia. However, these raids were conducted to identify draft dodgers, illegal migrants, and migrants who had not registered for military service. This process has nothing in common with the “busification” seen in Ukraine, even if the processes may look similar to some people from the outside.
Regarding the poster, the phone number listed on it — 8-800-222-35-00 — belongs to a reinforced concrete products plant in Ufa, and the QR code cannot be scanned because it was generated by a neural network. The website Rosgvard.ru does not function. The official website of the agency is https://rosguard.gov.ru/
The poster also uses the deliberately negative advertising connotations typical of fakes: “Catch others!”, “Every draft dodger is one less problem”, “Catch a draft dodger — and you won’t go yourself!”
