No, Putin didn’t say the West is controlled by Satanic pedophiles

In a video that’s been edited to look like Russian President Vladimir Putin is dancing on a flight of stairs, a question appears, asking "How can you support Putin?"

The answers follow in quick succession in the form of what look like news headlines that appear on the screen, including this one: "Putin: The West is controlled by Satanic pedophiles." 

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We reached out to Angela Stent, senior adviser for the Center for Eurasian, Russian & East European Studies at Georgetown University who’s written multiple books about Russia and its president including "Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest." 

Stent told us that she hadn’t "seen or read" the statement attributed to Putin.

We also couldn’t find evidence to support that Putin said the West is controlled by Satanic pedophiles. 

The claim that Putin said it isn’t new but it is getting fresh attention since Russia recently invaded Ukraine. 

In July 2021, Reuters investigated the claim that Putin said the West is controlled by Satanic pedophiles and couldn’t find any public record of the president saying that after reviewing his speeches, which were published on the Kremlin’s site. (The site was not working as PolitiFact was checking this post.) 

In a 2013 speech, Reuters reported, Putin mentioned both Satan and pedophilia, but in different contexts than they’re presented in this Facebook video. 

"We can see how many of the Euro-Atlantic countries are actually rejecting their roots, including the Christian values that constitute the basis of Western civilization," Putin said, according to an English translation of the speech. "They are denying moral principles and all traditional identities: national, cultural, religious and even sexual. They are implementing policies that equate large families with same-sex partnerships, belief in God with the belief in Satan." 

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Other headlines that appear in the Facebook video — "Putin: America is Godless, has turned away from Christian values" from Breitbart, and "Vladimir Putin: The New World Order worships Satan" from a Russian blog —  also refer to this portion of Putin’s speech. 

Stent told Reuters at the time that the Kremlin considers Russia the only truly Christian country, and thinks that the West is no longer Christian because of its interest in LGBTQ rights. 

Putin also said during this speech that "the excesses of political correctness have reached the point where people are seriously talking about registering political parties whose aim is to promote pedophilia." Reuters reported he was likely referring to a Dutch association that once advocated for pedophilia to be accepted.

The headline that Putin said the West is controlled by Satanic pedophiles was posted on a blog five years ago and also relies on this 2013 speech, but presents it as if Putin made the comments during former President Donald Trump’s tenure. The blog, like the headlines in the Faceook video, sound themes familiar among those who follow QAnon, a movement that claims without evidence that there is a global cabal of child sex traffickers that Trump is trying to thwart. 

The rest of the headlines that appear in the video vary in accuracy. 

• "Putin calls Bill and Hillary Clinton ‘the same Satan’" was published in PJ Media in 2016 after Putin quoted a Russian proverb while talking about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s desire to be president like her husband, former President Bill Clinton. "As we say, husband and wife are the same Satan," Putin said. 

• "Putin: All U.S. presidents are puppets — ‘dark men in suits rule America’" appeared on blog posts in 2017 that paraphrased comments Putin made to the French publication Le Figaro. 

According to an English Translation of Putin’s remarks that appeared on the Kremlin’s website, he did not mention puppets but said: "I have already spoken to three U.S. presidents. They come and go, but politics stay the same at all times. Do you know why? Because of the powerful bureaucracy. When a person is elected, they may have some ideas. Then people with briefcases arrive, well dressed, wearing dark suits, just like mine, except for the red tie, since they wear black or dark blue ones. These people start explaining how things are done. And instantly, everything changes. This is what happens with every administration."

• "‘I’m going to defeat the Illuminati with my bare hands’ | Putin 2016," appeared atop a 2016 blog post that reported "Putin is said to have uttered these bold words." We couldn’t find a credible source to corroborate it. 

What we do know: claims that he said the West is controlled by Satanic pedophiles are False.