Russia’s Matryoshka bots launch disinfo campaign claiming Ukraine runs “secret prisons” to torture soldiers and hold kidnapped foreigners

The Russian bot network known as "Matryoshka" has initiated a disinformation campaign on social media platforms, promoting allegations that Ukraine operates secret prisons to torture military personnel and hold kidnapped foreigners. The Antibot4Navalny project, which monitors Russian bot activity online, has uncovered over a dozen fabricated videos and posts as part of this operation.

These posts feature fabricated images of foreign newspaper front pages, such as those of France 24, Euronews, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations. The content centers around an incident that occurred on November 2 in the village of Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, near Kyiv, where locals reported discovering dozens of military personnel in the basement of a private home.

Matryoshka's posts include claims of a secret prison uncovered in the Kyiv Region, where Azov unit members allegedly held military personnel and a 14-year-old boy who displayed signs of torture. The bot network also presents unverified claims, such as the existence of mass graves, involvement of Ukrainian intelligence, and planned protests in France demanding an end to aid for Ukraine.

The fabricated narratives further include accusations that Azov fighters kidnapped Europeans for ransom, killed them, and demanded ransoms from hostages. One video falsely claims that two Polish citizens and two French volunteers who fought on Ukraine's side were among those held in the "secret prison." Another video, styled as a Human Rights Watch report, alleges that hundreds of secret prisons exist in Ukraine, used for torture, killings, and blackmail.

Images of Western publications, like La Croix and Libération, are being circulated, falsely claiming to present evidence of crimes committed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Israeli publication The Jerusalem Report is falsely reported as discussing a "revival of Nazism" in Ukraine. The Insider has obtained links to the original posts and materials, provided by Bot Blocker, confirming that the accounts publishing them belong to the Matryoshka network.

Due to the potential for further spreading of false information, the newsroom is not publishing direct links to the content.