Police at Moskovsky railway station in St. Petersburg stopped rock musician, leader of the group “Freedom is more important than fashion” Dmitry Galyaminskikh, whom the facial recognition system mistook for Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon.
“It’s funny! I’m walking at the Moskovsky railway station in St. Petersburg now, and I feel someone running after me. Well, I think they figured out whether they wanted an autograph or a photo. I turned around. The police ran up to me and quickly detained me. The facial recognition system recognized me as a terrorist journalist … Dmitry Gordon,” Galyaminskikh wrote in his Telegram channel.
According to the musician, one of the policemen “even touched the beard and hair for the sake of the conspiracy.” As a result, he was released and boarded the train.
In the press service of the Transport Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the North-Western Federal District, the publication “Podem” was published They saidThat this is the first case of incorrect operation of the system. “It never happened. Nothing bad happened. They just checked the guy and released him, God willing. And the musician looks exactly like him,” said the head of the press service, Elena Shilikova.
Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon runs his own YouTube channel, which has nearly 3.6 million subscribers. Gordon’s channel publishes news and interviews (in Russian), including with Russian opposition figures. In July 2022, the Russian Interior Ministry placed Gordon on the most wanted list. In July 2024, the court sentenced Gordon in absentia to 14 years in prison, accusing him of public calls to justify terrorism, calls to unleash an aggressive war, and spreading “false stories” about the Russian army.