A video featuring the President of Ukraine, Volodymir Zelenskyy, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been disseminated on Russian (chelindustry.ru, livejournal.com, chelyabinsk.bezformata.com, prochelyabinsk.ru, Мария Бойко, Vadim Gusakov) and Georgian (Faika Nacvlishvili, FB groups – Coronamafia and Georgia as an Experimental Country, Corona Mafia) social networks and Internet platforms. The video shows Zelensky’s desk with papers, a cell phone, a bank card and white powder. The post gives the impression that the President of Ukraine is a drug user.
The Russian outlet “Экономический вестник Челябинской областсти” (chelindustry.ru) notes that the Ukrainian president was talking to three people in a video call, during which a white powder appeared on his desk. “There is no doubt that this is a drug, more precisely cocaine, which has long been used by a former Ukrainian comedian,” the statement said. The same video is shared by other outlets in Chelyabinsk.
On livejournal.com, a user has been disseminating an identical video based on the telegram post of the Ukrainian opposition, pro-Russian MP Ilya Kiva.
The disseminated video is altered. In the original video, which was released on March 6th, Zelensky’s desk does not feature white powder and a bank card, which were added to it a month later.
On March 6th, 2022, the President of Ukraine spoke to American businessman Elon Musk via video call. Zelensky invited Musk to Ukraine after the end of the war.
Volodymir Zelenskyy: “If you have time after the war, you are very welcome; I invite you.”
A close-up shot of the conversation also shows the Ukrainian president’s desk for a few seconds, although the videos released on March 6th show neither the white powder nor a bank card.
On March 6th, the President of Ukraine posted the video on his Instagram account. In the video, there is an empty space at the bottom side of the cell phon
On April 23rd, real and fake versions of the video recording of Zelensky and Musk were published on the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian news agency Unian. According to Unian, Russian propagandists manually added the white powder to Zelenskyy’s video.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to discredit the President of Ukraine, fake photos and videos on social networks, which allegedly confirm Zelensky’s drug addiction, have been actively disseminated.
For more, see “Myth Detector” articles:
- Coffee, Drugs or Sport – What did Zelenskyy Talk about?
- 10 Messages of the Anti-Vaxxers Against Ukraine and Zelemskyy
About the Source
The Facebook user “Faika Natsvlishvili” is a supporter of the Conservative Movement party. The account has been suspected of spreading altered images in the past as well. For more, see:
- “Alt-Info” Supporters Disseminate an Altered Photo of Zelenskyy and Biden Kissing
In addition, the user is the moderator of the following anti-vaxx groups (Coronamafia and Georgia as an Experimental Country, Corona Mafia).
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