Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian TV presenter, drew attention to the pirated copy with official dubbing posted on Rutube, Russia's video hosting platform, writing about it in her Telegram channel.
According to Sobchak, an AI-generated advertisement for UralSib bank was inserted into the middle of the film. In the generated segment, Spider-Man and the Punisher discuss the merits of a financial product while criticizing marketplace ecosystems.
Meduza journalist Anton Khitrov found a version on Rutube with Russian voiceover in which Monetochka's song is preserved and the AI bank ad is absent. He suggested that this version will be shown in Kazakhstan.
A week earlier, the fragment with Monetochka's song was cut from the Ukrainian version of the film. The cinema chain Planeta Kino confirmed that the episode was completely removed, adding that the plot does not change as a result. Some Ukrainian viewers supported the decision.
In Russia, the decision was likely influenced by Monetochka's status as a "foreign agent." In July, a Moscow court sentenced the singer in absentia to one year in a general-regime correctional colony for evading "foreign agent" duties.
The film has no official release in Russia: Sony Pictures suspended its premieres in the country in 2022. Russian cinemas planned to show the picture in the format of "pre-screening service," but the release was postponed until August 20 to avoid competition with the film "The Last Hero. Kolobok."