diff --git a/platform/telegram/cmd/bot/main.go b/platform/telegram/cmd/bot/main.go
index bca70a9..17db610 100644
--- a/platform/telegram/cmd/bot/main.go
+++ b/platform/telegram/cmd/bot/main.go
@@ -103,6 +103,10 @@ func run(ctx context.Context, cfg config.BotConfig, logger *zap.Logger) error {
 	// bot-link, no gateway — so onboarding works even when the game is down.
 	var promo *promobot.Bot
 	if cfg.PromoBotToken != "" {
+		// The promo bot is auxiliary and shares this process with the main bot, so its
+		// construction failure (a bad or unreachable promo token — tgbot.New validates it
+		// with getMe) is logged and the promo bot is skipped, never fatal: it must not
+		// take the main game bot down with it.
 		promo, err = promobot.New(promobot.Config{
 			Token:             cfg.PromoBotToken,
 			APIBaseURL:        cfg.APIBaseURL,
@@ -112,7 +116,8 @@ func run(ctx context.Context, cfg config.BotConfig, logger *zap.Logger) error {
 			SendRatePerSecond: cfg.SendRatePerSecond,
 		}, logger)
 		if err != nil {
-			return err
+			logger.Error("promo bot disabled: construction failed (the main bot is unaffected)", zap.Error(err))
+			promo = nil
 		}
 	}