Is the photo true in which the ex-Minister of Defense of Ukraine after resignation is resting on a yacht in Europe?

In September 2023, a message spread in Runet that after the resignation from the post of head of the Ukrainian military department, Alexei Reznikov was allegedly seen in the company of his companion in one of the European countries. We checked the picture given as evidence.

September 4, 2023 Alexey Reznikov Submitted a request for a resignation from the post of Minister of Defense of Ukraine, which occupied Since November 2021, and Published A picture of a statement on your Facebook*. The next day Ukrainian parliament supported The dismissal of the official. Less than a week after his resignation, on September 10, there were posts on social networks that the former minister allegedly was already resting on a yacht - a photograph of Reznikov and the satellite was attached as evidence, while the location in different publications was different. Most of them indicate that the viral picture is taken somewhere in Europesometimes there is a clarification of European Union, in some publications they call Cote d'Azur, or French Riviera, and also London. September 12 in the program "Time will show"On the air of" Channel One "the photo itself was not demonstrated, but the leading Olesya Loseva I said: “It should be noted that the retired Minister of Defense of Ukraine Alexei Reznikov already, which means that he has fun drinks champagne on a yacht in Monaco with his companion.” While the authors of some posts They saythat in the photo of the Rezniki drinks the money received by Ukraine from the West as part of military assistance.

Such publications appeared in Telegram channels "Sanya in Florida"(366,000 views at the time of writing this analysis),"Solovyov"(229 000),"Dmitry Vasilet"(218 000),"Evgeny Prigozhin in Telegram"(108 000),"Belarusian security officer"(101 000),"Gasparyan"(66 000),"Club service"(58 000),""Special operation Z" | Yuri Podolyaka+"(42 000),"In fact in Kharkov"(17,000) and"Before everyone else. Well, almost. Special operation"(10,000), as well as in VKontakte (examples here, here And here) and X (former Twitter; here, here And here). Among the media and news sites about Reznikov’s photo they wrote "Mriya","ZOV Kharkov","Podolyaka"And the newspaper"Capital with".

Photo: screenshot post From the TGSTAT service

After conducting the opposite search According to the viral picture, in the issuance of Google “verified” the article with the biography of Reznikov, published On the website of the Ukrainian “Channel 24” on November 4, 2021, on the day of his appointment to the post of Minister of Defense. In the material among the pictures demonstrating different periods of the official’s life, a viral photo was also posted. “About a stormy novel with the TV presenter of the morning show on the ICTV channel Julia Zoriya became known in the winter of 2020, when the couple announced the engagement. Reznikov on Valentine's Day wrote a big post on Facebook and finally revealed the secret, ”the TV channel website said. The signature to the photograph indicates that it is made in Istanbul.

In Facebook, the former Minister of Defense is indeed Record For February 14, 2020 with a photograph of interest to us. In the same post there are two other pictures taken on the same yacht. Reznikov wrote: “Valentine's Day. Today, all the news feeds are dominated by cards with hearts. Once I made a post at the time of dismissal from the civil service (in 2016-2018 Reznikov worked deputy head of the administration of Kyiv. - approx. Ed.), The fact that I plan to finish and mate. Plans are always implemented if you deliberately send a request to the universal space. And she said yes! Julia Zoriy, it's time to admit the world! "

Photo: screenshot post From the site facebook.com

As for the location, the photographs were really taken in Turkey. To make sure of this, it is enough to write “Fortress in Istanbul” in the Google Maps search line and look Panoramic photos of the Rumeli fortress (Rumelichisar). This is an ancient structure Located In the European part of the city on the shore of the Bosphorus Strait.

A picture from the Reznikov post (left) and a picture of the Rumelichisar fortress from Google Maps (right). Photo: collage "Checked" / Oleksii Reznikov / AHMED BASYOUNI

In his publication, Reznikov did not specify the exact date of shooting. Facts from projects Stopfake And "Fact-meter", As well some The Ukrainian media claim that the photographs were taken in early 2020, that is, when they were published in the social networks of the official. However, according to the data "24 channels", Reznikov made an offer to his lover in the fall of 2019 (some publications Checkthat we are talking about November). "Verified" found an interview with zoriy to Elle magazine in which she reportedWhat said “yes” to her chosen one just in November 2019. We also studied Instagram* TV presenter and found several photowho, according to geotags, were Made In Istanbul and published At the end of November 2019. In some of these pictures, zorii wears the same clothes and stands on the same yacht as in the photo of Reznikov. In the signatures to the photographs, the host speaks of love and that "Istanbul suddenly became a very special city."

A picture from the post of Reznikov (left) and from the post of Zoriy (right). Photo: collage "Checked" / Oleksii Reznikov / @yulia_zoriy

The distribution of the photo of Reznikov and Zoriy with the wrong signature began in Russian in Telegram. The earliest misinforming post, which “verified” was able to track by keywords, appeared September 10 at 11:44 Moscow time in the channel of the Belarusian blogger Anton Shabashov (16,000 views). On VKontakte, the earliest such publication was also Made In the public Shabashov (2100 views) at 11:47. At the same time, according to the TGSTAT service, the post of similar content was Placed In the Telegram channel "Belterist" on the evening of September 9, but he was removed after 13 minutes.

Thus, Reznikov’s disclosed photo was taken not in Europe in September 2023, but in Turkey in November 2019, two years before he took the position of Minister of Defense of Ukraine.

*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns social networks Facebook and Instagram, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Photo on the cover: Oleksii Reznikov

Read on the topic:

  1. Reuters. Fact Check: Photo of Former Ukraine Defense Minister on Yacht Dates to 2020
  2. "Channel 24". "From the Deputy Prime Minister-to the Ministry of Defense: Biography of Alexei Reznikov"
  3. Is it true that Bill Gates bought the world's first liquid hydrogen yacht?

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