False: Russian President Vladimir Putin destroyed an adrenochrome lab in Ukraine.

By: Annet Preethi Furtado
January 27 2023

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Context

An image of what appears to be the cover photo of a news report with the headline - "Putin Destroys Adrenochrome Lab in Ukraine" - showing a massive blast destroying a structure is being shared on Facebook. The caption of one such post, published by a user on January 22, claimed that Russian special forces attacked and destroyed an "adrenochrome farm" outside Shostka, Ukraine, where “anonymous troops tortured kidnapped Russian children to harvest fluid from their adrenals.” The post cites an anonymous Mar-a-Lago source claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin informed Trump of the operation after Spetznas, special forces in Russia, rescued fifty children from the laboratory. 

However, these false claims stem from a fabricated article published by the website Real Raw News.

In Fact

We found no credible news reports to substantiate the claim that Russian special forces destroyed an adrenochrome facility and rescued 50 children in Ukraine. Only Real Raw News published this story on January 20, 2023. The website carries a disclaimer on its ''About Us'' page, stating that the information it publishes is "for informational and educational and entertainment purposes" and that the "website contains humor, parody, and satire." However, the Facebook posts that reposted the headline and the image as credible news did not mention Real Raw News as the source of the article; neither did they state that this was a piece published by a noted disseminator of misinformation.

While Real Raw News is a parody website, it predominantly publishes biased, false news reports that contribute to widespread disinformation. Articles and headlines from Real Raw News are frequently shared as screenshots on social media platforms, such as TikTok, where they are portrayed as authentic. Fictional stories from the website have catchy headlines that often go viral and garner huge user engagement. Logically has previously debunked several false and misleading claims made by Real Raw News.

A report by Poynter says that the author of the website Real Raw News portrays themself as a reporter who has access to sources and goes by the alias Michael Baxter. The report mentions that Baxter has previously run at least three other websites and related YouTube channels that supported conspiracy theories and were largely removed from the internet.

The claim that Putin destroyed an adrenochrome lab in Ukraine aligns with conspiracy theories propagated by QAnon supporters. QAnon child abduction conspiracy theories encourage the belief that a sinister nexus of "elites" is involved in a worldwide child trafficking operation. According to QAnon, this is to gather adrenochrome from the blood of abducted children, which is then used as a life-extending drug or medicine. 

The Verdict

The assertion that Russian special troops, under President Putin, destroyed an adrenochrome facility in Ukraine is false. This assertion is made by a website that frequently publishes fabricated, inflammatory content. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.