On June 23-24, Russian-language Facebook accounts (1,2) reported that 17 million hectares of Ukrainian agricultural land were already transferred to international corporations within the framework of the “Ukraine Development Fund” created in 2023. The posts state that the creator of this fund, Larry Fink, who is the head of the American corporation BlackRock, banned the burial of dead Ukrainian soldiers on this land, because “unsustainable waste of valuable arable land” is inappropriate.
Identical posts were published by Russian-language users (1,2) on May 12. They name the Russian director and propagandist Nikita Mikhalkov as a source. One of the posts also contains an excerpt from Mikhalkov’s program.
The claim that the head of BlackRock banned the burial of Ukrainian soldiers on Ukrainian soil is false and originates from a satirical Telegram channel. It is also false to claim that by 2023, international corporations had bought 17 million hectares of Ukrainian agricultural land. Ukrainian legislation prohibits foreign companies from purchasing agricultural land.
Russian director, actor, and propagandist Nikita Mikhalkov also voiced the claim that Larry Fink, the co-founder and CEO of the American company BlackRock, forbade the burial of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the Russian-Ukrainian war on Ukrainian soil. We find the mentioned information in the program of Бесогон TV on October 21, 2023. The video from the above-mentioned Facebook post is cut from this show. Mikhalkov disseminates the information based on the Belarusian government publication Минская правда. In an article dated October 5, 2023, Larry Fink is quoted at length, according to which Fink laments that Ukrainians are irrationally using black arable soil for cemeteries and reminds Ukrainians that it is not just their land. The source of the information is not indicated in the article.
The quote used by the Belarusian publication is fabricated and belongs to a Russian-language satirical Telegram channel “Империя очень зла” (Empire is very evil). The information was published on the channel on September 20, 2023.
The information box of the Telegram channel contains a warning that the information spread on the channel may be false and satirical.
BlackRock co-founder and CEO Larry Fink announced the creation of the Ukraine Reconstruction Fund in January 2023, within the framework of the World Economic Forum. The purpose of the fund is to find investors who will finance the development of various sectors of Ukraine, including infrastructure, production, and energy. The claim that Ukraine was sold to the mentioned company is a Russian propaganda narrative, which is also voiced by Russian high-ranking officials.
It is also false to claim that international corporations have bought 17 million hectares of Ukrainian land. In fact, according to Ukrainian legislation, foreigners, stateless individuals, and legal entities are prohibited from purchasing shares in the authorized capital, as well as membership of legal entities owning agricultural land.
Identical disinformation was disseminated in August 2022 as well. For more details, see:
About the Source:
Russian-language Facebook accounts Olga Petkevich, Anastasiya Nogovicyna, Архангел Михаил and Robindranat Tagor regularly disseminate disinformation of anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian content.
The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.
Read detailed instructions for editing the article.
Read detailed appeal instructions.
