The Kremlin botnet “Matryoshka” launched a disinformation campaign after the US Department of Justice published new documents in the case of financier Jeffrey Epstein, who organized an empire of sexual exploitation of people, including minors.
Source. This is reported by The Insider with reference to the investigation of the “Bot Blocker” project.
Fake publications appeared on social networks under the guise of materials from major Western media outlets, claiming that:
* Ukrainian children allegedly became the main resource for Epstein after 2014. The fake video says that Volodymyr Zelensky was aware of the situation and communicated with visitors to Epstein’s island.
* Actress Catherine O'Hara, before her death on January 30, allegedly accused French President Emmanuel Macron of patronizing the "pervert lobby." In fact, the actress did not make such statements.
* France 24 allegedly reported that information about the ties of French officials to Epstein was removed from published documents by agreement between Macron and Trump. The channel did not report such information.
* A fake video with the Al Jazeera logo claims that 1,005 Ukrainian refugee children disappeared in France in 2025, and that Bill Gates is involved in human trafficking.
* Reuters allegedly reported that New Caledonia (an overseas territory of France) has become "Epstein's new island" under the auspices of the French authorities. It cites fictional data on 112 visits by Bill Gates and 91 visits by Prince Andrew to the island.
* A fake Socialblade story claims that Europeans are looking to move to “CIS countries”, with searches increasing by 8,000% after the files were released.
* Libération allegedly published a story claiming that Jeffrey Epstein funded 55% of Macron’s 2017 election campaign when he was economy minister.
According to The Insider, after checking these outlets, none of the above stories were published.
Disinformation is also being spread through fake covers of French publications. A fake La Croix cover claims that the Élysée Palace refused to comment on Macron’s visits to Epstein’s island. Fake Le Parisien and Libération covers from February 2, 2026 claim that Macron visited Epstein’s island 18 times in 18 months while he was economy minister.
Investigations by Bot Blocker prove that the accounts that posted these materials are part of the Matryoshka network of russian bots.
On January 30, 2026, the US Department of Justice published more than 3 million pages of documents, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos related to the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
The published materials mention Epstein's correspondence with former White House advisers, billionaires including Bill Gates and Elon Musk, and Bill Clinton, and repeatedly mention Donald Trump's name. The documents contain information about Epstein's friendship with former Prince Andrew, his email correspondence with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and other influential figures.
Matryoshka is a Russian hybrid operation for the massive distribution of fake materials through a coordinated network of bots, trolls and pseudo-anonymous media platforms.
The principle of operation is based on two key elements. The first is the mass production of fake accounts disguised as “ordinary” users. The second is the synchronous launch of identical fakes on Twitter (X), Telegram, BlueSky, etc. The bots exploit the logos of Western media and human rights organizations.
Background. Earlier the Kremlin bot network “Matryoshka” spread fakes about the investigation of the Mindich case in Ukraine