No, Russian Spetznas snipers did not kill WEF's Kiva Allgood in Ukraine

By: Emmi Kivi
May 7 2024

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Source: Facebook/X

The context

On May 1, social media users shared screenshots of an article by Real Raw News headlined "Spetznas Snipe WEF Member in Ukraine [sic]." The article purportedly discloses how, on Friday, a two-man Russian Spetsnaz sniper team assassinated WEF member Kiva Allgood in Ukraine. Some posts included captions reiterating the article like, "WEF' war criminal' #KivaAllgood, the foundation's head of Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains Office, was shot once in the head Friday afternoon while standing outside the Ministry of Finance building in Kyiv."

However, Logically Facts did not find evidence or credible reporting that the assassination took place. Real Raw News is known for publishing satirical and false news stories. Logically Facts has covered multiple fabricated news stories written by the website. 

In fact

Logically Facts found no reporting, international or Ukrainian, that Allgood was killed by Russian snipers in Ukraine. Neither the World Economic Forum's (WEF) official social media channels nor its website reported the incident or that Allgood had recently died. Kiva Allgood is, however, listed as the Head of the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains on the WEF website. LeadStories also discovered that Allgood was still active on her LinkedIn profile on Friday, April 26, 2024.

Our research showed that Real Raw News is the only outlet that has reported on the story of Allgood's assassination in an article published on April 30, 2024. According to Poynter, the Real Raw News website publishes "fantastical, false stories with made-to-go-viral headlines," often about military arrests, hangings, and executions that are written under the pseudonym "Michael Baxter." Media Bias/Fact Check's website labels the website as "satire." This is also stated in the Real Raw News web page disclaimer: "This website contains humor, parody, and satire."

As evidence, the article provides a supposed translated Russian Ministry of Defence debriefing report shared with Real Raw News by FSB agent Andrei Zakharov. This report provided a detailed account of Allgood's assassination by Spetznas forces. Spetznas refers to the Russian Special Designation Forces, an elite force of the Russian military. However, Logically Facts found no mentions, press releases, or interviews with an FSB agent named Andrei Zakharov. Instead, the search results led us to a Russian investigative journalist who escaped Russia in 2021.

Logically Facts contacted the World Economic Forum for a statement regarding the claim. 

The verdict

There is no sufficient evidence that Russian Spetznas snipers have killed WEF member Kiva Allgood in Ukraine. We did not find any credible reporting that the incident would have occurred. The news story originates from a website that frequently publishes satire and fabricated news stories. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.