Russian propaganda falsely claims Zelensky bought French hotel, Kuleba's son acquired 'Iron Throne'

Propagandists fabricated a video purportedly produced by an American TV channel and created a cloned hotel website

Russian propaganda continues to fabricate stories targeting Western audiences, alleging illicit enrichment of senior Ukrainian officials and their families. This time, Russian media, pro-war Telegram channels, and bots on social media platforms like X and TikTok spread a video supposedly created by "French journalists." The video falsely claims that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, through a company called Film Heritage Inc., purchased the five-star Palace des Neiges hotel in the exclusive Courchevel ski resort in France for EUR 88 million.

This video is entirely fake. It was created by a group of "journalists" from a non-existent media outlet. In the upper right corner of the video, a logo with two white Latin letters "EF" on a red background is visible. However, no legitimate news organization uses this logo.

A similar logo, "EF," belongs to the Scottish-based Edinburgh Film Company, which produces promotional videos and films on demand. Propagandists appropriated this logo to lend false credibility to their fabrication.

Secondly, for this fake, Russian propaganda created a cloned website for the Palace des Neiges hotel, falsely claiming that it was owned by Film Heritage Inc. This fictional company, allegedly based in Basel, Switzerland, was previously linked by propagandists to Zelensky's "property" in a fabricated story about him purchasing the Vuni Palace casino, the largest in Europe. Notably, the same screenshot used in this video also appeared in a fake news article by the Turkish-language pro-Russian media outlet OdaTV, which spread disinformation about the supposed casino purchase.

It is worth noting that the original website, unlike the fabricated version, does not include any information about the hotel's ownership. Although the fake website is no longer active, it has been preserved in the Internet Archive.

Additionally, Kremlin propaganda outlets are circulating another falsified video, this time using content from the American local media outlet 5 Kens in San Antonio, Texas. In the manipulated video, the presenters falsely claim that Yehor Kuleba, the son of former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, purchased the "Iron Throne" prop from the TV series Game of Thrones for $1.5 million.

The video is entirely fake. Propagandists edited the footage to include false claims that Yehor Kuleba owns the iconic props from the series, Game of Thrones. The original news release by the American TV channel, published a month ago, contains no such information.

Dmytro Kuleba has already publicly denied this fabricated story.

During the war, Russian propaganda frequently spread false claims about Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife, Olena, acquiring luxury assets such as real estate, cars, and jewelry. Previously, Ukrinform journalists debunked similar disinformation, including fake stories about Zelensky purchasing musician Sting's estate in Italy, Hitler's car, and claims of Ukraine's First Lady buying expensive jewelry from a New York boutique or acquiring an exclusive Bugatti.

These fabrications are primarily aimed at Western audiences and are often circulated during international discussions about the allocation of military aid to Ukraine. Russia's objective is to sow doubt among these nations, attempting to convince their citizens that the financial support provided to Ukraine is being misused for personal enrichment rather than aiding the Ukrainian people.

This disinformation also targets Ukrainian citizens, promoting a narrative of government corruption. It seeks to instill the false belief that the war benefits Ukraine's leadership, who allegedly profit at the expense of ordinary citizens.

Previously, Ukrinform debunked a similar fake claim alleging that Ukraine had transferred chemical weapons to rebels in Mali.

Andriy Olenin, Dmytro Badrak