Claims:
The Olena Zelenska Foundation is involved in child trafficking. The children are sold into slavery, trafficked for organs, or send to paedophiles in wealthy European countries.
Verdict:
This is not true. Allegations on the Olena Zelenska Foundation’s links to child trafficking and paedophiles are unfounded. The only sources spreading such information are fictitious news portals and Kremlin propagandists. They base their claims solely on a journalistic investigation by a fake journalist and the only proof in the investigation is an anonymous video, in which the person speaking also fails to provide any evidence supporting these allegations.
“Lie Detector” Commentary:
Initially, the news of the alleged involvement of the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a child trafficking network originated from Kremlin propaganda outlets. Later, the same story began to circulate in social media platforms.
The news portal “The Intel Drop”, disseminating false information and Kremlin propaganda, gave special attention to this this story: on 5th of November, it published an in-depth article featuring photos of the Ukrainian First Lady, discussing the journalistic investigation conducted by an unknown French journalist Robert Schmidt. Schmidt claimed that during this particular investigation the initial links of the foundation to child traffickers were established. The fictitious journalist allegedly obtained this information from a former driver of the Olena Zelenska Foundation, who provided him with a list of children sold, routes and addresses allegedly proving the fact of child trafficking. The article also contained an anonymous testimony in French, alleging the foundation regularly sent children to France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Additionally, for a few seconds, a list of children is shown on the screen, though it is not possible to grasp any relevant information.
Daria Zarovna, adviser of the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, in her “Telegram” message stressed that Russia is currently conducting multiple disinformation campaigns, including dissemination of fake news about Olena Zelenska Foundation’s involvement in child trafficking (here). As Zarovna emphasized, the fictitious news portal “The Intel Drop” is the primary source of this false information, which attracts audience by spreading false information through social media. The adviser of the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine also pointed out discrepancies regarding “The Intel Drop” registration, particularly the timing and location. Although the website claims being registered in Reykjavik, Iceland, it actually operates in Amsterdam. It is worth emphasising that the portal was created only in 2022.
Although the anonymous record in the above mentioned journalistic investigation is the single proof, Zelenska‘s foundation continues to face serious allegations.
It should be noted that a Google search for further information regarding the author of the investigation, Schmidt, yields no results. The search only finds information about a different journalist with the same name and surname, residing in Strasbourg and affiliated with “WeReport”. However, the is no indication from any of his accounts that he claims to be the author of the investigation on the Zelenska Foundation.
Meanwhile, the testimony of the purported former driver of the Foundation was initially published on the “Youtube” account “Robert Schmidt”, which, as of 30 November, had only 130 subscribers. However, most of them became subscribers during November this year because, according to “The Insider”, a Russian-language fact-checking and research portal that analysed the story (here), on 8 November, the number of subscribers was only 63. The account created in 2022 contains solely a video featuring an anonymous confession.
The investigation also mentions another English-language portal which disseminated identical information regarding the links found between the Zelenska Foundation and child trafficking – “The DC Weekly”. The publication in this suspiciously rarely read portal is attributed to Jessica Devlin. Devlin, presenting herself as a senior pollical correspondent, claimed having worked at “Bloomberg” headquarters in Moscow. However, there are no information in “Bloomberg” portal regarding such an employee. Furthermore, the description accompanying photo belongs to another person – Canadian writer Judy Batallion (here).
Additionally, the fact-checking portal factcheck.bg highlighted that the facts presented in the anonymous testimony are suspiciously similar to the popular US conspiracy theory "pizzagate", which alleges that the world’s elite are involved in child trafficking and paedophilia schemes (here).
This is not the only fabricated story about the allegedly intensive child trafficking in Ukraine. “Lie Detector” has previously reported that such allegations have targeted even well-known brands like “Coca Cola” and surrogacy clinics operating in Ukraine (here and here).
Sources:
- Fake by the Kremlin media: Elena Zelenskaya’s foundation supplied Ukrainian children to European pedophiles
- A fabricated investigation accused Olena Zelenska of supplying Ukrainian children to paedophiles in the West
- Ukrainos prezidento kanceliarijos vadovo patarėjos Darios Zarovnos „Telegram“ paskyros informacija
- Judy Batalion
- Ar kūdikiai iš Ukrainos pardavinėjami homoseksualams ir pedofilams?
- Ar tikrai „Coca-Cola“ įsipainiojo į vaikų iš Ukrainos pirkimą?
