According to one narrative being shared on social media, Russia has a noble aim for its war against Ukraine: to end child trafficking there.
“Putin vows to ‘crush’ child traffickers in Ukraine,” read what looked like a headline in a screenshot shared March 2 on Facebook. The headline came from Real Raw News, an outlet known for sharing misinformation, including a similar claim on Ukraine that PolitiFact rated False.
“Putin is wanting to destroy the bio labs and confront many other crimes against humanity such as child sex trafficking,” read another post from Feb. 25, referencing a separate debunked claim that Ukraine has U.S.-funded bioweapons labs.
“Putin is cleaning up our mess,” said another lengthy and grammatically problematic post from Feb. 27. Ukraine is where “all the child trafficking and heroin money is washed,” the post said.
These posts were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
There is no evidence that Putin’s decision to wage war in Ukraine has been motivated by a desire to rid the country of child trafficking.
And although they don’t mention QAnon, these claims echo ideas central to the conspiracy theory, experts told us. QAnon has as one of its assumptions that the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles that include famous Democrats and celebrities.
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