Is it true that Vladimir Zelensky travels by train in the Golden Wagon?

In early April 2023, many Russian media wrote that the President of Ukraine moves in a luxuriously furnished car, the interiors of which are decorated with gilding. In the same car, the media wrote, arrived in Ukraine in February and US President Joseph Biden. We decided to check if this is so.

Most of the Russian state and proxual media wrote about the Golden Train of Zelensky. On April 5, articles about the luxurious car of the Ukrainian president appeared in "Russian newspaper","Komsomolskaya Pravda","Moscow Komsomolets", On Lenta.ru, website of the TV channel "Star". Some publications referred to the publication in the Polish media, others limited themselves to the wording of "Personnel appeared on the Web."

Primary of the publication - Polish tabloid FAKTwho, on April 4, 2023, released a note entitled "Luxurious train of the President of Zelensky." The publication timed to the visit of the Ukrainian leader, who arrived in Poland the next day.

It was the publication of FAKT that the Russian media then retold. Here are its main theses. Zelensky was supposed to arrive in Poland in such a wagon, and all of the Ukrainian railways have ten similar wagons of increased comfort at the disposal, the newspaper writes. A few years before the war, these wagons were repaired and represented by the public, which caused a wave of criticism. Finally, in such a carriage, Joseph Biden arrived in Kyiv in Kiev in February 2023. The most noticeable part of the publication is photos of gilded interiors.

The first manipulation, striking, is a signature to a photograph that opens a note. It is a collage of two pictures-Vladimir Zelensky himself and the “Golden Wagon”, while the authorship of the photo is indicated as the “press service of the President of Ukraine / Reuters”. However, authorship only applies to the photograph of Zelensky, while the reader may have the feeling that the presidential press service and Reuters also shot the interior of the car.

The following photographs representing the Golden Wagon in all its splendor have already been signed as Ukrzaliznitsa, the Ukrainian railway company. And this is already true.

The history of "golden wagons" is quite long. Back in 2007, the Ukrainian magazine "Correspondent»Wrote about wagons of increased comfort. Anyone could use this service for $ 3000 per day. “A compartment with a double bed, shower, kitchen and living room, stuffed with expensive equipment, are an incomplete list of comfortable components of the“ hotels on wheels ”. You can travel by lying in the bath, and if desired - and with a glass of champagne ” - this is how the conditions that the Ukrainian railways provided were described.

In 2015 detailed reportage TSN issued such a car - the information program of the 1 + 1 TV channel. The interiors that show the correspondent coincide with photographs from the FAKT article. There is a critic mentioned in the publication in the report: the author of the plot calls the wagon “real“ honka ”on the wheels.” Honka is the name of the Finnish company, which built the famous mansion Former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych in his residence in Mezhigorye. The name became a household name after Yanukovych’s flight in 2014: its residence has become a symbol of tasteless luxury for Ukraine.

The report also clarified: a similar individual car is available to anyone if it has a certain amount. In 2021 in the premium carriage I visited and Ukrainian journalist, author of travel programs Dmitry Komarov.

All these years, Ukrzaliznitsy did not hide the presence of such wagons, and FAKT photos were taken from open sources. But not one of the Ukrainian presidents - neither Viktor Yushchenko, nor Viktor Yanukovych, nor Peter Poroshenko, nor Vladimir Zelensky - were noticed in the Golden Wagons.

It is known that Vladimir Zelensky moves after the start of the full -scale invasion of Russia to Ukraine by train. That's right It has begun His trip to the United States in December 2022: first by train to Poland, then by plane. March 28, 2023 he was accompanied by journalists of the Associated Press, who Interview The president of Ukraine is right in the compartment.

The interiors of the coupe, in which Zelensky on the way from the Sumy region to Kyiv spoke with journalists, is not much different from the usual train - no crystal chandeliers and gilding on the walls.

In the article of the Polish tabloid there is not a single evidence that Zelensky is going to arrive in Poland on the “golden train”, only photos of the train itself, whose connection with Zelensky cannot be traced.

The article also mentions a visit to Kyiv by Joe Biden, who allegedly also arrived on such a train. As a rule, world leaders arriving in Ukraine do not take photos inside the train. But in the case of Biden, such a picture is just.

This carriage is different from the usual, it is equipped as a study. Perhaps this is just one of those ten premium Vagons, which was reported by Ukrzaliznitsa. But again, he does not at all look like a “golden car” from the publication of the Polish tabloid.

Thus, the reports that Zelensky moves in a special carriage decorated with crystal, marble and gilding, is not confirmed. There is not a single picture that would capture Zelensky in such interiors, as well as evidence of eyewitnesses or relevant documents. Therefore, the publication of the Polish publication, and for it and the Russian media should be considered manipulation. Photos of the Golden Wagon are genuine, but have nothing to do with the President of Ukraine.

Photo on the cover: FAKT

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Is it true that Putin has a personal train at the secret station?
2. The Insider. Fake of the Kremlin media: the personal railway car of Zelensky is a model of tasteless luxury.
3. Stopfake. Manipulation: Zelensky arrived in Poland on his Golden train.