Information is being spread on Russian social networks that a private clinic has posted ads looking for a doctor and a driver-courier to work in frontline cities. Anonymous users report that these vacancies are likely related to the removal of organs from the front or semi-legal cooperation between Ukrainian military personnel and private clinics.

But this is a fake. The ads contain numerous inaccuracies, the phone number belongs to another person. Using keywords, our fact-checking colleagues found the vacancies shown in the screenshots, all of them were published by a user named Viktor Glushko. The ad from the first screenshot was removed from the SellBuyAll.com.ua website, but Glushko published a vacancy for an anesthesiologist-resuscitator on the same website. It is noteworthy that an ad with identical content on the same website was published by an account with the nickname _anо.ni.m. The vacancies were posted on other local websites with ads.

There are inaccuracies in the text of the advertisements themselves. In particular, it is stated that the applicant for the vacancy of a surgeon must have mastered “transplantation methods”. However, fact-checkers were unable to find a definition of “transplantation methods”.

The list of duties of a “driver-courier” includes the item “delivery of biomaterials in Ukraine and abroad by automobile and motorcycle transport”. However, firstly, travel outside of Ukraine is prohibited for most military-liable men, although, of course, there are exceptions.

“Black transplantology” in Ukraine is a conspiracy theory that Russians have been developing for a decade. The constant return to the topic testifies to its importance for Russia. These messages are promoted to both domestic and international audiences. However, their refutation in foreign and Ukrainian media prevents the campaign from having the desired effect. Among the goals pursued by Russian propaganda within the framework of this topic are discrediting the military-political leadership of Ukraine and reducing trust in it, creating a negative image of the state in the eyes of the international community, and justifying a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Read also: How and why Russia uses the topic of “black transplantology” in Ukraine