{"id":1174,"date":"2026-06-02T21:41:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T21:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertyrelocationusa.com\/?p=1174"},"modified":"2026-06-02T21:41:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T21:41:52","slug":"maga-defector-caught-secretly-joining-moscow-forum-tied-to-spy-recruitment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertyrelocationusa.com\/?p=1174","title":{"rendered":"MAGA defector caught secretly joining Moscow forum tied to spy recruitment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Conservative podcaster Candace Owens is scheduled to appear at a panel alongside Russian media figures and politicians under U.S. and European Union sanctions for supporting Russia\u2019s war of aggression against Ukraine at a major event in St. Petersburg on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Read more Todd Blanche kills last remaining hopes for Trump\u2019s $1.776 billion slush fund<\/a><\/p>\n

The right-wing conspiracy theorist, who has seen her popularity rise as she\u2019s openly feuded with other conservative luminaries such as Erika Kirk and Laura Loomer, has lavished praise on Russia in X posts over the past week for its \u201cChristian heritage and expression\u201d and \u201cfamily-friendly\u201d amenities. <\/p>\n

Owens is scheduled to appear on a panel at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum entitled, \u201cA Big Family, A Big Reach: New Demographics and Narratives for Media Leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The appearance puts her on the same stage as Alexander Zharov, who was directly appointed by President Vladimir Putin to lead the Russian state\u2019s mass media arm and is currently under U.S. sanctions as an official of the Russian government, and Anna Kuznetsova, a deputy chair of the Duma, a house of the Russian parliament, who is also on the State Department\u2019s sanctions list.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy speaking at this forum, she\u2019s actively aligning herself with an event that exists to push the interests of the Russian state,\u201d said Hannah Gais, a senior researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center who monitors Russia and the far right.<\/p>\n

The panel, which features \u201cinfluential figures with large families\u201d who produce \u201ccontent that focuses on family values,\u201d highlights a longstanding obsession in Russia with population collapse, Gais said, noting that the theme has long attracted far-right actors from the United States and Europe.<\/p>\n

Gais told Raw Story that Owens\u2019 presence helps the Russian state show that it can build bridges with the U.S far right.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn aspect of any kind of soft-power effort, so to speak, would be to push your own messaging, whether it be Russia as a partner in the \u2018war on wokeness,\u2019 which is one framing that certain reactionaries or partners in protecting Christian civilization like to emphasize \u2014 those are talking points that would serve the interests of the Kremlin,\u201d Gais said.<\/p>\n

Russian state media reported Owens’ participation in the panel at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, but she has not publicly announced it. Requests for comment submitted by Raw Story through the contact form on Owens’ website were not returned.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the British-American manosphere influencer Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, sparking speculation that they too will attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which begins Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Owens\u2019 social media posts have largely presented her visit to Russia as a family sight-seeing trip, but on Sunday Vladimir R. Legoyda, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, posted photos on his Instagram account of a media interview with Owens for Spas TV. The outlet is currently under sanction by the European Union for \u201cspreading disinformation and propaganda in support of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interview has not yet been broadcast, but Owens confirmed her participation in a reply to a detractor on X, writing, \u201cPlease share a link when it drops in case I miss it! Was a great discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more MAGA lawmaker turns on \u2018idiotic\u2019 Republican for posting gays have \u2018no place in America\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Owens has vocally criticized Israel\u2019s attacks on Gaza and ongoing bombardment of Lebanon \u2014 including resharing a post as recently as May 30 showing Israeli aerial attacks in Lebanon \u2014 but has remained largely silent on Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine and targeted attacks on civilians.<\/p>\n

Other Russian panelists scheduled to share the stage with her who are under sanctions for spreading disinformation about the war in Ukraine and praising Putin include Yuliya Baranovska, a television presenter, who was sanctioned by the European Union for, among other things, \u201cpublicly promoting Russian war crimes such as the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuznetsova, the deputy at the Duma, is similarly under sanction by the European Union, along with the U.S. Treasury Department, while a 2024 Voice of America report flagged her playing an instrumental role in a propaganda campaign to falsely accuse Ukrainian medical teams of harvesting organs from children. The conspiracy theory has been used by Russia to deflect from its responsibility for relocating at least 20,000 children in what the U.S. State Department under former President Joe Biden described as \u201csystematic efforts to suppress Ukraine\u2019s identity, history and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Russian intelligence service, known by its acronym FSB, has long courted foreign media figures in an effort to generate positive news stories, often using the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum as an arena for cultivating potential assets.<\/p>\n

Nomma Zarubina, a 35-year-old woman who pleaded guilty in February to lying to the FBI about her role as a Russian spy, worked with an FSB handler who encouraged her to cultivate contacts with American journalists, according to a federal court documents. Zarubina\u2019s handler instructed her to attend the 2021 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, \u201cand asked her to find journalists who would be willing to publish positive stories about the event and Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

A screenshot retrieved from her phone by the FBI revealed the results of her efforts: contact information for a German public broadcasting journalist.<\/p>\n

Owens has thumbed her nose at critics, such as her former boss, Ben Shapiro who accused her in a piece at the Daily Wire of going to Russia \u201cto visit her friends, ideological handlers, and sponsors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether Russian intelligence services directly engage Owens or not, her pro-Russia messaging already appears to align with Kremlin interests. Posting about a cat she ostensibly planned to adopt, Owens wrote: \u201cDeep down I know she will never be loyal to me and she will always report back to the Kremlin, but I will love her nonetheless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether there\u2019s an espionage connection or not, Gais said Owens represents a segment of the U.S. far right that already shares overlapping interests with the Kremlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been an ongoing trend on the far right, from Tucker Carlson to the alt-right,\u201d Gais said. \u201cCandace Owens is following in a long line of right-wingers who have gone to Russia and see it as an ally in a conflict that they see as civilizational and existential in the West against liberalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018You should be really freaked out\u2019: DHS chief refuses to commit to court orders<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conservative podcaster Candace Owens is scheduled to appear at a panel alongside Russian media figures and politicians under U.S. and European Union sanctions for supporting Russia\u2019s war of aggression against Ukraine at a major event in St. Petersburg on Thursday.The right-wing conspiracy theorist, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMAGA defector caught secretly joining Moscow forum tied to spy recruitment - Property Relocation USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/propertyrelocationusa.com\/?p=1174\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MAGA defector caught secretly joining Moscow forum tied to spy recruitment - 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