No evidence Putin called WEF’s Klaus Schwab a ‘globalist terrorist’

Claims that President Putin called the founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Klaus Schwab, a “globalist terrorist” have been shared widely on social media. But there’s no evidence this is true. 

The WEF is a foundation headquartered in Switzerland that engages with governments and business leaders on global issues. 

Claims about Putin’s alleged remarks appear to have come from an article on a website named The People’s Voice, which multiple posts have linked to, shared a screenshot of or copied text from directly. 

The article has the headline: “Putin Warns ‘Globalist Terrorist’ Klaus Schwab His ‘Days Are Numbered”, and it goes on to claim President Putin made these comments during a speech at the 20th meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi on 5 October 2023. This refers to a Moscow-based think tank that hosts the Russian leader once a year for a public address. 

However, English-language transcripts show President Putin did not mention either Mr Schwab or the WEF in this speech. The Russian leader did discuss Ukraine joining NATO, Russia’s cooperation with China, UN reform and nuclear weapons, among other topics.

Moreover, we could find no credible reports of President Putin making any such remarks about Mr Schwab or the WEF elsewhere. In 2019, he reportedly noted the “importance and significant benefits” of the World Economic Forum as an “international platform” following a meeting with Mr Schwab.

We’ve previously written about a very similar article by The People’s Voice that falsely claimed President Putin said Mr Schwab was a “legitimate military target” in this same speech. 

The People’s Voice is connected to the websites YourNewsWire and NewsPunch, which have been identified by other fact checkers as frequent sources of misinformation. 

The website has been the source of many other false or unevidenced claims regarding Mr Schwab or the WEF, including that Mr Schwab urged world leaders to grant him full governmental control over their nations, that his daughter Nicole Schwab warned “permanent climate lockdowns” were coming and that the WEF has advocated for the slaughter of millions of pets. 

We have contacted The People’s Voice for comment.