On October 4-5, Georgian and Russian Facebook accounts and Kremlin-controlled media outlets (1, 2, 3, 4), including Russia Today, Gazeta.ru, Московский комсомолец, pravda.ru and Lenta .ru, citing Nigerian media outlet The Nation, reported that Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska bought $1,100,000 worth of jewelry at a Cartier store during a visit to New York, mistreated a sales employee and got her fired.
Disinformation is circulating about Olena Zelenska. A Ukrainian government agency denies that the First Lady bought $1,100,000 worth of jewelry at a Cartier store during her visit to New York in September. On September 22, the date on the purchase bill, Olena Zelenska was on an official visit to Canada, so she could not have come to the Cartier store in New York.
The authors of the posts and articles about Zelenska refer to the Nigerian media outlet The Nation. The online newspaper writes that while Zelenskyy was blitzing Washington in an urgent effort to bolster support for Ukraine, his wife Olena Zelenska was spotted at the Cartier store. The article is accompanied by an Instagram story, in which, as the media outlet claims, a former sales employee recalls her encounter with Ukraine’s First Lady. According to her, after offering to help, Zelenska treated her rudely, then demanded a meeting with the manager, and the next day she was fired. The woman says that along with her personal belongings, she took a purchase bill from the store indicating that Olena Zelenska spent $1,100,000 on Cartier jewelry.
The Center for Countering Disinformation, a Ukrainian government agency, announced that the Nigerian media outlet The Nation spread disinformation about Olena Zelenska’s visit to New York. According to the statement published on its official Telegram page, the information was verified at the Presidential Administration.
The Cartier purchase bill is dated September 22, 2023, when Olena Zelenska and Volodymyr Zelenskyy were on an official visit to Canada. Therefore, it is impossible that Zelenska personally purchased jewelry at the Cartier store in New York on that date.
It is also worth noting that the bill lists the name of the person who sold the jewelry as Lisa Yang, while the Instagram account says the former employee of the store was named Jeanette.
During the Russia-Ukraine war, disinformation about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska was spread on multiple occasions. In early October 2023, the pro-Kremlin media spread disinformation that a Russian passport belonging to Olena Zelenska, had been found in the presidential villa in Crimea. In January of the same year, a software-edited photo was circulated – the authors claimed that it showed the First Lady of Ukraine with expensive accessories and clothes. In December 2022, Myth Detector verified false information according to which Volodymyr Zelenskyy owns a $35 million villa in Miami. A discrediting campaign also exaggerated Zelenskyy’s wealth to several hundreds of millions and billions, claiming he accumulated this wealth through corrupt means after becoming president.
About the source
The Facebook account “Eduard Jishkariani” frequently shares posts containing anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian information. The disinformation he spreads has been verified by Myth Detector in the past as well (1, 2, 3).
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