This story needs more context as Gerry isn’t only involved in The Islander, but also @DD_Geopolitics
Child abuse isn’t just tolerated in pro-Ru spaces, it’s woven into them. This thread details some of the paedophiles and paedophile apologists in the pro-Ru disinformation space.
Gerry Nolan @realgerrynolan, who admitted sexual crimes against children in 2016, is known to work on The Islander with @BowesChay, but was also a one of the main admins of @DD_geopolitics under the username “Gerry Plato”.
Nolan was so central in DDGeopolitics he was even listed as “Editor in Chief” of DDG around the time we exposed Sarah @ddgsarah (also accused by her estranged husband of neglecting her daughter) as the fake “Donbass Devushka.” He wrote many wall of text articles for them.
Did @ddgsarah know she had made a convicted child sex offender one of her main “comrades”? Did she care? She has repeatedly hosted @realscottritter , so evidence would suggest she doesn’t mind being associated with child predators.
Nolan was a main admin alongside the likes of @squatsons, who also at one time also defended the actions of convicted paedophile @RealScottRitter, then denied knowledge of it, but was caught in the lie.
Side note: congrats to @squatsons (27) on his girlfriend @Kimber_lynn_ (28) moving into his parents’ house! With her ~$21k salary, your X grift and steroid sales, home ownership could be only decades away.
But maybe more pressing: should someone that lives with a man defending paedophiles online and even “working” with them really be in regular contact with children? A fair question for @RioRanchoMVMS perhaps.
And on Ritter: twice convicted, including for attempting to meet underage girls online. Yet he’s still platformed in pro-Russian spaces as a legit analyst on Ukraine, even celebrated in Russia. Why are pro-Russian propagandists so keen to amplify paedophiles?
The clue is in the cause they support - because Russia’s own laws barely address CSAM. It isn’t even illegal to possess it there. In fact CSAM is still yet to have a legal definition in Russia.
Odd for a country that banned anything LGBT under the guise of "protecting children".
In this case the fish rots from the head: in 2006, defector Alexander Litvinenko accused Putin of destroying tapes of himself raping young boys. Months later, he was assassinated in London with polonium-210 by Russian agents Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun.
Exiled Russian journalists such as A. Sotnik, A. Nevzorov, and ex-Russian PM M. Kasyanov have spoken of elite paedophile rings operating in Russia. Former KGB officer Yuri Shvets adds that the Kremlin covers for and then exploits those involved.
The war in Ukraine has also left many Ukrainian children vulnerable, with Putin himself as well as Russia’s Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova being wanted by the ICC for unlawful deportation of children.
Some of these children were found on an adoption website that treated them as little more than animals, and those that have managed to return to Ukraine tell of abuse they faced from Russians. Some are not so lucky.
The pattern is clear: paedophiles and their defenders find community in pro-Russian spaces, from fellow propagandists to the Kremlin elites that they idolise. And the Russian disinfo system protects them, as long as they protect the system.
Help Ukraine reunite its stolen children with their families by supporting u24.gov.ua
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Games like Squad 22:ZOV are harmless, right? That’s what @Steam seems to think. But perhaps they aren’t when they're the work of a “spy school” alum from a “diplomatic family”, and it has been backed by the Military-Political Directorate of the RuAF. Meet Alexander Tolkach. 1/🧵
Squad 22:ZOV is described by its devs as “a tactical strategy game” allowing players to “Delve into the complexities of the 2014 and 2022-2024 events through compelling campaigns” being made “with the advisory support of active fighters and veterans of the SMO”. 2/
Steam reviewers describe it as “full of genocidal propaganda”, it’s "scandalous that it even exists on the Steam store”, “clearly made in paint” “Doorkickers, except worse in every conceivable way” and commenting that it is required to pay $6-70 to make it even playable. 3/
Meet @vagrantwires: real name Thomas Craig, based in Rhode Island. By day, an assistant director at @HarvardHBS. By night, a racist, sexist mouthpiece for Russian propaganda and anti-democratic disinfo on X. Let’s unpack what he posts—and why it matters. 🧵1/9 #OSINT #DISINFO
Craig routinely amplifies pro-Kremlin narratives; Ukraine as a Nazi state, a money-laundering op, the catalyst for a nuclear world war or a scheme to genocide the West. These are straight from the Kremlin’s playbook to justify Russia's genocidal invasion. 2/9 #KremlinNarratives
One of Craig’s focuses is in undermining Western support for Ukraine. He pushes the idea that aid is either pointless or corrupt - a classic Russian disinfo tactic. When truth won’t erode support, he leans on lies and distortions instead. 3/9 #DisinfoOnX #DefendDemocracy
TUA is shining a light on the now-public IDs of some of the admins behind one of the most vile pro-Russian TG groups: TrackANaziMerc. This thread combines now public data and our own OSINT findings. Take screenshots - it might not stay up long.
TaNM has doxxed, threatened, and celebrated the deaths of Ukrainian soldiers from abroad - calling them “Nazis” and “mercs.” They revel in their suffering, but they never expected that we - and others - were watching them too. Their time in the shadows is over.
Meet Daria Andreevna Khalturina, aka “Ekaterina II”—TaNM’s "owner" and lead admin. She’s previously lived outside Russia, in Tanzania, but her bloodlust knows no borders. Now she spreads propaganda and calls for murder from Moscow.