DISINFO: Ukraine's opposition leader reveals Zelenskyy’s plan to leave the country
SUMMARY
The leader of the opposition leader in Ukraine, Viktor Medvedchuk, revealed that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is preparing a plan to leave the country after purchasing through front-men a luxury apartment in Dubai valued in almost 17 million dollars.
RESPONSE
All the claims are unsubstantiated.
Viktor Medvedchuk is not “the leader of the opposition in Ukraine”, but a long-term pro-Russian politician labelled “Putin’s man in Ukraine”, and was one of the figures under consideration by the Kremlin to head an occupation government after the invasion, according to Ukrainian intelligence sources. In May 2022 Medvedchuk was charged with treason and accused of selling military secrets to Russia, and in September 2022 he was released in a prisoner exchange with Russia, where he has lived since. After that he created the movement The Other Ukraine, who has no real strength inside the country but is promoted by Russian authorities as a convenient alternative political force.
No evidence is provided to back the allegations that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is planning to flee the country, or that he acquired a luxury apartment in Dubai for this purpose. Previous allegations about corruption by Zelenskyy or his close environment have been systematically debunked (see below), but pro-Kremlin media and channels continue peddling them in order to undermine Ukrainian leadership.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Zelenskyy’s fortune is worth at least USD 2 billion, that Olena Zelenska spent more than 1 million dollars on jewellery with EU money, that Zelenskyy's mother-in-law uses war money to buy luxury houses, that the reporter who found Zelenskyy’s Mother-in-Law's villa was found dead, or that Zelenskyy's associates stole weapons money because they believed Ukraine will cease to exist.