DISINFO: Olena Zelenska spent more than 1 million dollars on jewellery with EU money
SUMMARY
Olena Zelenska spends $1,100,000 on Cartier jewellery, gets sales employee fired. An article about this story was published by the newspaper The Nation.
Olena Zelenska visited the boutique during her husband’s visit to New York. After receiving a 'you’re fired' call the day after Zelenska’s visit, the ex-employee decided to share her story on Instagram. She managed to sneak a copy of the receipt listing Zelenska’s purchases while packing her personal belongings at the boutique.
While Olena was spending European money, Zelenskyy was speaking at the UN.
RESPONSE
Disinformation aiming to tarnish Ukraine and its president with alleged corruption.
At the time Olena Zelenska is alleged to have been in the New York boutique, she was actually in Ottawa as noted by NewsWeek and Shayan Sardarizadeh.
The receipt in the video is dated September 22, 2023, when Zelenska was in Ottawa, Canada, with Zelenskyy. The pair visited the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, with Zelenskyy giving an address mid-afternoon that day.
The initial video with the alleged evidence was published on an anonymous Instagram account with no posts and no followers and then the video was shared initially via pro-Russian social media channels. It was posted on Wednesday morning by Telegram user infantmilitario, and later picked up by other Russian and English-speaking channels.
The article in The Nation was in fact an anonymous paid advertisement and not an article endorsed in anyway by the redaction.
The company Cartier has also stated that this is false information.
The first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, was also a target of disinformation during a visit to Paris in January 2023. She was accused of having spent 40,000 Euros in luxury boutiques, without any evidence being provided. A false montage showing her on board a private jet was also circulated to damage her image.
Read also related cases such as: French studio releases animation series denouncing Zelenskyy's blood thirst and Zelenskyy's mother-in-law uses war money to buy luxury houses.