Pro-Kremlin social media accounts are using the latest JeffreyEpsteinfiles to bolster efforts to spread baseless claims that Russia has saved Ukrainian children from sex trafficking, research by AFP and a London-based think-tank showed Thursday.
AFP and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found posts viewed millions of times on Facebook, X and TikTok pushing the narrative, which contradicts real accounts of Russia forcibly deporting Ukrainian children since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
On January 30, US authorities released a trove of files related to Epstein, the US financier who was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex offences.
The revelations have ensnared high-profile figures across the world.
But pro-Kremlin accounts have also spread the idea that the documents prove Ukraine is a global hub for sex trafficking — an allegation Russia has long pushed.
Some users claimed the files revealed Russian PresidentVladimir Putinwas trying to save Ukrainian children from a network linked to Epstein, a convicted child sex offender.
One recent post on X, viewed more than three million times, said the Epstein files “confirmed… Putin didn’t kidnap children from Ukraine, instead evacuated them to protect them from being sold into child sex trafficking”.
Since the invasion, Russia unlawfully moved almost 20,000 Ukrainian children over the border, according to Kyiv. Russia has acknowledged taking some children, saying this was for their safety.
Some posts even suggested the latest tranche of files proves Epstein was trying to meet Putin to counter his efforts to stop child sex trafficking.
Such claims surged on social media after the latest file release, with over 15,000 X posts in two days, the ISD said in a report released Thursday.
Source: Insider Paper
