Eva Karene Bartlett (born 14 June 1977) is an American Canadian activist, commentator, and blogger who has propagated

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

in connection to the Syrian civil war, most notably the disproven allegation that the White Helmets stage rescues and "recycle" children in its videos. Bartlett describes herself as an "independent writer and rights activist". She writes commentary pieces for Russian state-controlled RT's website. Critics contend that her advocacy amounts to participation in a

disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...

campaign aimed at lessening the responsibility of the

Assad regime Ba'athist Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), was the Syrian state between 1963 and 2024 under the one-party rule of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. From 1971 until its collapse in 2024, it was rule ...

for the acts of indiscriminate killing during the war, and to promote pro-Kremlin content in relation to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. Bartlett's posts on social media have been tagged with the disclaimer that her writings "may be partially or wholly under the editorial control of the Russian government". Bartlett has lived in Russia since 2019. She has been making videos and posts on social media from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

during the Russian invasion, sometimes with journalists from RT. She often appears as a guest on RT. She has been criticised for spreading Kremlin propaganda and misinformation.

Early life and education

Bartlett was born in the United States and grew up in Canada. She taught English in South Korea after finishing university.

Career

From 2008, Bartlett was a pro-Palestinian campaigner with the International Solidarity Movement, making trips to Gaza, reporting and commenting on her blog, and going on speaking tours in North America. Since then, she has commented on the Syrian civil war, and has travelled to Syria six times prior to 2017.

Syrian civil war viral disinformation video

In late 2016, Bartlett generated controversy over a video on a Russian-funded web channel that went viral, in which she said that Syrians "overwhelmingly support"

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

, as evidenced by the results of the 2014 election, an election widely denounced, e.g. by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, as an illegitimate sham. She has characterized the White Helmets as being part of a Western propaganda campaign, alleging that rescues by that organization are hoaxes whereby they "recycle" the same children in footage of staged rescues, and that "no one in eastern

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

has heard of he White Helmets. In the same video, Bartlett falsely claimed that the al-Quds Hospital bombing in April 2016, where 55 died, never occurred, saying it was rebel propaganda. Bartlett's claims were amplified by Russian-controlled outlets such as RT, Sputnik News and

In The Now IN, In or in may refer to: Dans * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independen ...

. The claims were found to be false by ''

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

'' and

Snopes ''Snopes'' (), formerly known as the ''Urban Legends Reference Pages'', is a fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been seen as a source ...

. The broader "same girl"

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has been categorized as a derivation of the "crisis actor" conspiracy theories. The video presented Bartlett as an independent journalist speaking to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

when in fact the event was staged by the

Syrian government The government of Syria takes place in a presidential system and is currently in a transitionary period under and led by a transitional government. The seat of the government is located in Damascus, Syria. On 8 December 2024, after the succ ...

. In 2017, Bartlett was rebuked by ''The Syria Campaign'', an advocacy group that campaigns on behalf of the White Helmets. Relying on research done by the social media intelligence company ''Graphika'', it released a report alleging a Russian disinformation campaign in the Syrian Civil War, according to which Bartlett was part of a network seeking to discredit the White Helmets in order to minimise war crimes committed by the Assad regime. According to the publication,

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

had removed several videos of Bartlett because they were on "accounts linked to Russian disinformation". An equal characterization of Bartlett's activity has been made in a 2017 report on the situation in Aleppo, by the American think-tank

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

. According to

Janine di Giovanni Janine di Giovanni is an author, journalist, and war correspondent currently serving as the Executive Director of The Reckoning Project. She is a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, a non-resident Fellow at ...

in ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...

'', Bartlett is a core member of a group of "Assad’s Western apologists", alongside Vanessa Beeley, Sharmine Narwani, and Max Blumenthal; their work is disseminated by a "spectrum of far-left, anti-West conspiracy theorists; anti-Semites; supporters of Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah; libertarians; and far-right groups". Research by the

Institute for Strategic Dialogue The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) is a political advocacy organization founded in 2006 by Sasha Havlicek and George Weidenfeld, Baron Weidenfeld, George Weidenfeld and headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Activities ISD's core ...

in 2022 identified Bartlett as a member of a network of social media accounts, individuals, outlets and organisations who disseminated disinformation about the Syria conflict, noting that one video featuring her had been viewed 4.5 million times on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. Coda Story noted that by March 2022 the different versions of the video had been viewed 10 million times.

North Korea trip

Bartlett went to

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

in 2017 alongside Tim Anderson, and said that western media coverage of the country is aimed to "detract from America’s past and current crimes against the Korean people, and to garner support for yet another American-led slaughter of innocent people".

Ukraine

In 2022, Bartlett spent time in

, reporting on the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

from a pro-Russian perspective, sometimes with journalists from Russian state-owned channel

Russia Today RT, formerly Russia Today (), is a Russian state-controlled international news television network funded by the Russian government. It operates pay television and free-to-air channels directed to audiences outside of Russia, as well as pro ...

. The

(ISD) identified her as one of the twelve key Western influencers spreading pro-Kremlin disinformation about the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

. Bartlett is not directly employed by RT, although she has regularly written op-eds on RT’s website, makes videos with RT correspondents and shares RT content.

has labeled her posts with a disclaimer that she “may be partially or wholly under the editorial control of the Russian government.” In July 2022, she was a speaker at the Russian-organised International Public Tribunal on Ukraine in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, which aimed to "collect data and prove the commission of war crimes by the Kyiv regime".

Notes

References

External links

In Gaza and Beyond Wordpress blog
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bartlett, Eva Living people Canadian anti-Zionists Canadian women bloggers Canadian conspiracy theorists Canadian women activists RT (TV network) people Fake news Activists for Palestinian solidarity Canadian political commentators People of the Syrian civil war Pro-Russian people of the Russian invasion of Ukraine Canadian expatriates in Russia Canadian expatriates in South Korea Canadian people of American descent Teachers of English as a second or foreign language 1977 births Women in the Syrian civil war