Russian propaganda portrays Zelenskyy as supervillain

In the fictional world of Russia’s decadeslong disinformation campaign, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a corrupt owner of multimillion-dollar villas, cars, yachts and other luxury goods purchased using the West’s financial aid, particularly the U.S. taxpayers’ money. He is also a Nazi drug addict alcoholic who kills investigative journalists, represses ethnic minorities and is a mass murderer who attacked Russia and refuses to stop the war while cynically profiting from Ukrainian deaths.
The Kremlin’s propaganda portrayal of Zelenskyy is the epitome of a disinformation tactic dubbed “projection” — that is when one side projects on the opposing side its own crimes and characteristics. In this case, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin stands verifiably accused of committing all sorts of crimes that his propaganda machine projects onto Zelenskyy.
Investigative journalists and fact-checkers, including VOA’s, have been looking into the Kremlin’s claims about the Ukrainian president and proving them false. Yet the Russian-cooked list of Zelenskyy’s evil traits keeps growing.
Most recently, the Kremlin’s news sites, newspapers and social media accounts accused Zelenskyy of monopolizing the funeral industry in Ukraine by trademarking his last name.
Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti cited the Ukrainian president’s October 2022 registration of the “ZELENSKYY” trademark with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), suggesting that he was entering the funeral business.
Major Russian state-owned and pro-Kremlin media outlets followed with publications misleadingly claiming that Zelenskyy registered a trademark to take over the funeral business in his war-torn country and profit from the deaths of thousands of Ukrainians.
WIPO, which registered the ZELENSKYY trademark, is a United Nations agency that protects intellectual property worldwide under various classes of the Nice Classification. The trademark registration is obligatory for states signatory to the agreement (which Ukraine is). While the Russian disinformation agents focused on funeral services, that is only one of thousands of different goods and services covered in a standard trademark registration.
Before becoming Ukraine’s president in 2019, Zelenskyy worked in television and is the founder of Kvartal 95, a video production company with multimillion-dollar annual profits. In 2016, the streaming service Netflix bought the rights to broadcast the TV show “Servant of the People,” produced by Zelenskyy’s company. In the show, Zelenskyy played the role of a Ukrainian president.
By 2019, Zelenskyy had registered 31 trademarks.
According to his tax return, by the end of 2020, Zelenskyy owned, in whole or in part, 47 trademarks for goods and services.
In 2021, the president of Ukraine became the owner of 16 more trademarks registered only in Ukraine.
In their reports alleging Zelenskyy’s launch of a “funeral business,” the Russian state media also repeated thoroughly debunked claims. They include:
Fabricated story of murder
Between December 2023 and January 2024, in a prolonged disinformation spin, Russia fabricated a story involving a fake Egyptian investigative journalist, Mohammed Al-Alawi, who “exposed” Zelenskyy’s purchasing of a $4.8 million villa in the Red Sea resort city of Hurghada under Zelenskyy’s mother-in-law’s name. The allegation continues that Zelenskyy then ordered, and his agents carried out, the assassination of the journalist to cover up the corruption scheme.
VOA fact-checkers investigated the story and proved it was fabricated: No such Egyptian journalist ever existed, let alone was murdered; the named villa belonged to a local family with zero relation to Zelenskyy or Ukraine.
False reports of shopping spree
In October 2023, Russian media and social media users spread claims that Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, spent $1.1 million on jewelry at a Cartier store in New York during a U.S. visit that September. The story alleged that a former Cartier employee leaked a receipt.
However, fact-checkers from DW, Newsweek and Snopes debunked this claim, proving the receipt was fake. Zelenska was in Canada on the alleged purchase date. Further investigation revealed the source of the claim was a Russian store owner, not a former Cartier employee.
Unfounded rumor about yachts
In November 2023, Russian Telegram channels and tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda spread rumors that Zelenskyy had purchased two yachts worth $75 million, using U.S. aid.
The claim was based on a report and a video published by the Kremlin-aligned DC Weekly.
Fact-checkers from Deutsche Welle, the BBC and The Associated Press investigated the story and found that the yachts were still for sale and that the documents shown in the video were outdated and fraudulent.
Fake news of US mansion
In December 2023, Russian news sites falsely reported that Zelenskyy and his family would move to the U.S. in the spring of 2024, where he would be granted U.S. citizenship and given a $20 million Florida mansion.
The story was based on a YouTube video by an anonymous user and an article from DC Weekly.
Fact-checkers from Reuters and Euronews revealed that the U.S. naturalization certificate for Zelenskyy was fabricated and the Florida property was still for sale. Investigations found no evidence that Zelenskyy purchased the house or was pursuing U.S. citizenship.
Phony claim about supercar
In July 2024, Russian media falsely claimed that Olena Zelenska purchased a $4.9 million Bugatti supercar during a visit to Paris. The fake news reached millions across social media.
The report originated from a French-language website, Verite Cachee, which was created days before the AI-generated deepfake footage was published.
VOA fact-checkers debunked the claim, with disinformation linked to John Marc Dougan, a Kremlin-associated fugitive known for creating and spreading fake news targeting Ukraine.