Matryoshka pro-Kremlin bot network accuses Swedish government of ties to paedophiles

The Kremlin’s Matryoshka bot network has launched its first known campaign targeting Sweden, spreading videos on X disguised as content from well-known international media outlets. The videos spread disinformation about Swedish politicians’ alleged ties to paedophiles and financial criminals, claims of planned election fraud, and attacks on opposition leaders. Alongside Swedish politicians, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has also been targeted. The information was shared with The Insider by the Antibot4Navalny project.

One video uses Der Spiegel branding to claim that the Greek government froze the financial operations of more than 500 companies linked to Merz and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. The entities were allegedly involved in laundering proceeds from drug trafficking and financed a paedophile network known as “04/09.” This likely refers to Operation Fever, a Polish police initiative that saw a network of more than a hundred criminals arrested across 12 countries on April 9, 2025. Matryoshka’s video also invokes the former head of Poland’s Military Counterintelligence Service, Radosław Kujawa, who allegedly described the events as “a victory for the Swedish and German opposition.”