Candace Owens has finally found a national stage willing to give her baseless conspiracy theories airtime.
However, the country is Russia and dictator Valdimir Putin will be the headline speaker when she appears at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum tomorrow.
Owens, 37, will appear on a panel alongside Anna Kuznetsova — a Russian politician sanctioned by the US for running a program which kidnapped Ukrainian children and trafficked them to Russia for “re-education” — and TV presenter Yuliya Baranovskaya, who is sanctioned by the EU for spreading propaganda.
Firebrand podcaster Owens, who has six million subscribers on YouTube, has sparked concerns she too could return from the trip spouting Kremlin talking points and Russian propaganda to her US followers.
“The Kremlin courts the people it assesses as useful for widening America’s divisions, the specific issue is incidental. They’ll stoke whatever fracture is available,” Alex Goldenberg, Senior Fellow at the Rutgers Miller Center and founder of Silent Index told The Post.
“Moscow extended the platform and that tells you how they see her, as someone whose reach can be turned into division or political capital. The Soviets had a term for Western sympathizers like Candace Owens. It translates roughly to useful idiots,” he added.
Owens landed in Moscow on June 1 and wasted no time promoting its virtues, writing on X: “The Christian expression and heritage here is unmatched. Unsurprisingly, they are lying to us about Russia. Oh, and yes, it is beyond family-friendly. A lot for children to do,” alongside pictures with her husband and children.
However, sources claim Owen’s trip is highly likely to be closely monitored by the FSB, the Russian security service, during her time in the country.
Russia is heavily sanctioned by the US, UK and EU over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which it remains at war with — a point underlined by a drone attack by the Ukrainian military on St. Petersburg Wednesday, disrupting its airport and leaving an oil terminal just offshore in billowing plumes of smoke. Russia is also closely allied with Iran, which currently has an uneasy ceasefire with the US.
The conference, which runs from Wednesday until June 6, has been dubbed “Putin’s Davos,” comparing it to the annual Swiss World Economic Forum Meeting populated by the tech and business elite.
However, its attendees are less distinguished, such as US-born former actor Steven Seagal, who has been a Russian citizen since 2016, who is set to appear as well as manosphere influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate who landed in Russia Wednesday and are rumored to attend, according to USA Today.
One of the most notable speakers at the event is political philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, a far-right idealogue who has been called “Putin’s Rasputin” for his influence on the leader, including being a guiding voice in starting the Ukraine war. He is also accused of spreading fierce anti-US and antisemitic views.
Owens’ spokesperson insisted to The Post she is not being paid to visit Russia and is funding her trip entirely by herself, “paying for her own hotels, flights, meals, train tickets, anything else she needs in Russia,” but declined further comment.
As part of the heavy sanctions on Russia, which extend as far as preventing US credit and debit card transactions, if Owens were to accept payment for speaking it could be deemed illegal, according to the Treasury department.
Owens will be featured at an event titled “Big Family, Big Reach: New Demographics and Narratives for Media Managers,” where panelists will discuss “solving complex problems” within their large families. Owens and her British husband George Farmer have four children.
Putin has been courting both extreme right and extreme left commentators in the US in an attempt to destabilize society, which is why he has been inviting influencers such as Owens, former White House aide Steve Bannon and conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson to travel to Russia, according to an expert on Russian history. Carlson interviewed Putin on a visit in 2024.
“The way to undermine society is to work on the far left and the far right, and the implication is that Russia is at war with the US in the information space since at least 2014,” Susan Smith-Peter, a professor of Russian history at the City University of New York (CUNY) told The Post. “It’s a way to undermine a country from within.”
Owens is best known for her divisive point of view and argumentative style, as well as pushing falsehoods. She has been sued over her insistence French first lady Bridgette Macron was born a man, despite offering no credible evidence, she has defended slavery and uses persistent antisemitic rhetoric, including saying Israel is responsible for ritual murders and pedophilia.
“Owens has a history of reaching across countries and connecting with fringe figures so it’s not surprising that she affiliates herself with Russia, especially with Dugin and his conspiracy theories about Jews and the Rothschilds.
“She has carved out a niche for herself as an amplifier of antisemitic content,” Matthew Witkin, investigative researcher with the Anti-Defamation League told The Post.
Owens’ support for Russia extends back at least as far as 2024, when she accused Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky of being a “homosexual actor” and said his country will never “triumph over an orthodox Russia.”
In another tweet from Moscow, Owens wrote: “I’m starting to understand why the talking heads panic and shout and lie about ‘Russian collusion’ when they learn an American with a platform is traveling here … It is genuinely shocking how clean, beautiful and ordered this city is. It is so far removed from media depictions.”
However, the free speech Owens thrives on is severely restricted in Russia. Independent journalism is effectively criminalized and anyone displaying dissenting views faces severe legal penalties and prison time.
Journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva were initially sentenced to 16 years and six and a half years prison respectively on trumped up charges in Russia but after an international bargaining effort both were released in a historic prisoner swap in 2024. They are just two of many examples.
The most effective Russian interference campaigns against the US in recent years have all taken place online, largely through bot armies and trolls, controlled by the shadowy Internet Research Agency.
Many of those bots are designed to look like bona fide US voices and mimic their actions and behavior. Russia then attempts to take over debates on social media to cause division, usually by amplifying divisive voices at both ends of the political spectrum.
Underneath Owen’s X messages from Russia were comments from accounts with few followers and little engagement which appear suspiciously like fake bots.
An account named “Curtis Haines Jr.” wrote: “Is Russia really our enemy? Genuinely asking… It certainly doesn’t seem like it – I’ve met a lot of Russians in the US and they are great people as far as I can tell. Rivals sure… Enemies? Can anyone clue me in what I’m missing?”
Another account, credited to “Birdman Jon” chimed in: “Not an enemy to me. Russia has balls. The West does not. When there’s breaking news, I only check RT [state broadcaster Russia Today] and a few podcasts including Owens. Next, Ukraine is a corrupt failed state, and I write this as someone who has personally toured Kyiv and Odessa. Ukraine is a country of thieves.”
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