Are children trafficked to pedophiles at the Ukrainian-Polish border? No, that's not true: Poland's Government Information Centre stated that the claim of selling children for pedophilia at the Ukrainian-Polish border is disinformation. Lead Stories found no evidence supporting this claim.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on the TikTok account @alexandr_turner on November 27, 2023. Russian media outlets have spread this claim, as seen here, here and here.
The text overlay on the video (translated from Russian to English by Lead Stories staff) states:
At the Ukraine-Polish border, they are selling children for pedophilia. The speaker for State Duma of the Russian Federation stated that people are engaging in such deals involving children. Earlier, an interview with a former employee of Elena Zelenskaya's foundation surfaced on the internet. This topic has been brought up not for the first time.
Below is how the post appeared on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Dec 7 12:39:11 2023 UTC)
The focus of this fact check will not include the claim that involves Olena Zelenskaya's foundation.
Anna Kuznetsova, the vice-speaker of the Russian State Duma, claimed during a parliamentary committee meeting on November 20, 2023, that representatives of pedophile communities from Europe, the United States and Ukraine are involved in child trafficking along the Poland-Ukraine border, with prices for a child reportedly reaching up to $150,000. Kuznetsova claimed the existence of an entire network of accomplices operating in Ukraine.
Poland's Government Information Centre responded to Lead Stories' inquiry regarding this claim by email on December 6, 2023:
This is yet another example of fake news fitting the category of disinformation activities spreading especially on social media. We consistently urge media representatives and social media users to be particularly cautious about the credibility of information appearing in the information space.
Lead Stories found no credible evidence of this claim. A search for the phrases "At the Ukraine-Polish border, they are selling children for pedophilia" (archived here), or "Europe, the United States, and Ukraine are engaging in child trafficking at Ukraine-Polish border" (archived here), conducted on December 7, 2023, using Google News' index of thousands of credible news sites, did not reveal any evidence-based reports on these claims. Had this been the case, it would have been news of significant importance and reported in international media.
Lead Stories also contacted Ukraine's Foreign Ministry for comment and will update this article if a response is received.
