In October 2023, the Russian media and Telegram channels diverged reports that the first lady of Ukraine during a trip to the United States bought expensive jewelry from Cartier, while her husband asked for assistance to Kyiv. We checked the reliability of this story.
Since October 4, in the Russian segment of the Internet, publications began to appear massively stating that during a trip to New York Elena Zelenskaya spent more than $ 1 million on jewelry in the Cartier boutique. Authors of many similar notes Found In this alleged act of the first lady, the contradiction with the declared purpose of the visit - her husband at the same time addressed the UN General Assembly, asking for help for Ukraine and additional supply of weapons. “A visit to the Cartier store could not go unnoticed, because after it one of the employees was dismissed. She published the check of the purchase of Elena Zelenskaya in the amount of a million dollars, ”the Telegram channel notes“Ivan Utenkov"(109,000 views at the time of writing this analysis). The same post states that the American magazine The Nation allegedly wrote about the purchases of Zelenskaya.
Similar publications appeared in other Telegram channels: ""Live broadcast"(681,000 views),"Sanya in Florida"(373,000),"Ne. Sahar"(304 000),"Russia now"(291 000),"Pozdnyakov 3.0"(253,000),"KB"(250,000),"Truthfulness"(203,000),"Putin in Telegram"(184 000), Voblya (144,000), "Zlaya Pruf"(144 000),"Bullet"(132 000),"Sheikh Tamir"(130,000),"Militarist"(120,000, the earliest of the discovered publications in Telegram),"Ostashko! Important"(114 000),"What happened?"(107 000) and"Zakhar Prilepin"(102 000). Among the media and news sites about luxurious purchases of Zelenskaya were told "Russian newspaper","Moscow Komsomolets","Komsomolskaya Truth"(In the middle of the text, it is stated:" True, this story or not is currently unknown "),"Arguments and facts","Moscow 24","Ren-TV" NTV, "Tsargrad" RT, Mash, Life, News.ru, "360","Ukraine.ru","Federal Press","Notebook","Rosbalt","Free press","Paragraph","National television" And "Own correspondent". Similar posts are also found on VKontakte (examples here, here And here), social networks X (former Twitter; For example, c profile Embassy of the Russian Federation in the UK) and on "Picabu".
To begin with, let's deal with the primary source news about the purchase of jewelry. Most of the above publications say that the news originally appeared in the American publication The Nation. For example, in the note "Rossiy newspaper" Written: "The scandal around the millionth shopping of Elena Zelenskaya in New York attracted the attention of the American media." The official print body of the Government of the Russian Federation specified that we are talking about The Nation - "the oldest political journal of the United States, the voice of the Libertarian wing of the Democratic Party, the stronghold of Bernie Sanders and the laboratory of the most progressive thoughts." However, on the website Thenation.com No Not a word about the purchases of the First Lady of Ukraine in Cartier.
Actually The Nation, where October 2 appeared Material about the alleged millionth expenses of Zelensky on jewelry is the site of the same name Nigerian The newspapers (Thenationallineng.net), which has nothing to do with the specified American magazine. The few Russian media still clarified that we are talking about the Nigerian site. Among them "Moscow Komsomolets"(Released a separate note) and" Gazeta.ru "(The original The material is almost completely rewritten).
Now we will carefully study the original note in the Nigerian The Nation. The newspaper states that during his stay in New York, while Vladimir Zelensky was discussing the support of Ukraine, his wife spent more than $ 1.1 million in jewelry boutique Cartier on the fifth Avenue. The publication reports that a certain Wedraogo Bukari (while the author of the note is not indicated, but "Our reporter") Received information from the former employee of the store, who was allegedly fired because of Zelenskaya. The girl reportedly, along with personal things, was able to take a copy of the check, and then told her story on her Instagram*. Photo A check can also be found in many Russian -speaking posts.
It is noteworthy that at the very end of The Nation, after the question of who paid for the purchase of Zelenskaya, there is a note by Advertisement (“Advertising”). Factor David Puente From the project Open I studied the page of the page with the material about the proposed shopping of the first lady of Ukraine and found the Sponsored Post (“Sponsorship Post”). Indeed, a note about Zelenskaya placed In the corresponding section on the website of the Nigerian publication. Who has become a customer of this material is not indicated. The fact of the Checknews project of the French newspaper Libération contacted editor The Nation Sandem Oguntola, who confirmed The paid nature of the publication: “We did not write this article. The client ordered its placement. " He refused to reveal the identity of the customer.
The article gives a video, published On YouTube on October 1, 2023 User Marshall Leonard (This is his only publication at the time of writing a analysis). The same video distribute And some Telegram channels. The video lasting a little more than a minute is a recording of the smartphone screen, which shows an Instagram-storosis of a girl. Below are a translation of her words.
As you know, about two years ago I moved from Benin to New York to live with my uncle and his family. For a long time she could not find a job, so when my uncle arranged me in Cartier, it was like a miracle. Can you believe it? Of course, this is an internship and all that. But this is Cartier! It was incredible to work in such a magnificent place. It was just the work of my dreams. Within two weeks. And then…
About a week ago, the wife of the President of Ukraine Elena Zelenskaya entered the store. It was during their visit to New York. She seemed upset. No, not just upset. She was angry! To be honest, she was my first VIP client. I tried to arrange a short tour of the store for her, but she did not want to.
When I showed her several of our goods, she yelled directly in my face: “Who said that I need your opinion?!” I thought that I should apply another approach, but she just called the manager. I don’t know what she told him, but the next day I was fired. WTF (what kind of x *** me? - approx. Ed.)?
I received a copy of her check. I managed to do this when I packed my e ** things. I was fired because of her, so I will show everyone her true face. She spent more than $ 1 million in Cartier while her country is fighting? I'm so angry now! Why couldn't she spend her stolen money and just go to a neighboring boutique? Why ruin my life?!
The viral video shows that all the story was published by the account @gorgeous.bb.jeanette. Edition Lenta.ru claimsAs if the girl has already deleted her page, but at the time of writing this analysis, the profile still exists: it is closed for third -party users, it does not display an avatar and there are zero indicators of publications, subscriptions and subscribers. According to Instagram, the page was created in August 2023 and has changed the name more than once.
The receipt lists three positions: bracelet, earrings And necklace - All of them are in the catalog on the Cartier website with the same costs indicated. But in the picture of the check you can find other information. For example, the name of the saleswoman is indicated there: Lisa Young. In the Telegram channel "Russia now", where many once Published Unreliable information, conducted a "brief test of facts" and InstalledThat Lisa Young exists and that this is exactly the interns who was fired because of Zelenskaya. “Verified” confirms that Young is a real person, but she was not a experience and she was not fired: according to her profile in Linkedin, Yang works Cartier has more than two years. In addition, she looks completely different from a story from a story. Of course, it can be assumed that Young replaced the experience after the conflict with Zelenskaya, but this was not said.
Since the nickname of the alleged experience is @gorgeous.bb.jeanette (magnificent Babe Janett), it could be assumed that in life the girl's name is Janett. However, most likely, this is a fake name. BBC journalist Shayan Sardarizade And a factor David Puente found out that a girl from a viral video owns a page on VKontakte, where her name Gabrielle Yogo (Gabriel Yogo). According to the profile in this social network, it lives and works in St. Petersburg. “Verified” studied publics that the girl was signed for, and found among them many communities to search for models in St. Petersburg, as well as a medical subject. The description of the VK profile indicates its accounts in Instagram (already closed for third -party users) and TiktokWhere Gabriel called himself a doctor from Cameroon. Open publication Curses Many other evidence of the girl’s connection with Russia: one of the albums of her Instagram storosis is called in Russian “study”, on one of the video In Tiktok, she is located at the Moscow Domodedovo airport, and there is on VKontakte photo From a cafe located in the Russian Federation. In addition, her working WhatsApp registered to the Russian number.
As for the check spreading in social networks, the date is indicated on September 22, 2023 and the payment method (Visa Offline, that is, the purchase of $ 1.1 million was paid by card on the spot). One network users suggest that September 22 is the date of purchase of jewelry, other - that this is the date of printing a copy of the receipt (in this case, the purchase took place the day before). However, both options in fact turn out to be insolvent. WITH morning September 21, Vladimir and Elena Zelensky They were at public events in Washington, which is confirmed by many photo And video, and the Cartier boutique is located in New York. According to the data Associated Press And monitoring services With information about the flights of the aircraft of the Ukrainian delegation, the late evening of the same day, the president and his wife flew to Canada. How reports The LEAD Stories fact, all the appearance of Zelenskaya in New York, Washington and Canadian cities are well documented, so the first lady of Ukraine could not make purchases at Cartier without attracting the attention of the media and the paparazzi. She could not do this at night, because the store on the fifth Avenue works until 19:00.
Ukrainian center for combating misinformation with reference to the president’s office also Refuted Messages about purchases of jewelry in New York. In the message to our colleagues from Checknews, the representative of Cartier also Refuted The news, saying that this is “false information”.
Thus, there is no evidence that Zelenskaya spent more than $ 1 million on jewelry. The case did not write any authoritative American media or famous tabloids about this case, and the original article on the Nigerian site turned out to be the original source. The girl, who was allegedly fired from the Cartier store in the United States, lives and works in Russia, and sometimes, apparently, works as a model. The news was refuted by representatives of both the office of the President of Ukraine and the Cartier brand. In addition, the date indicated in the distributed photo of the check contradicts the real schedule of the movements of Zelenskaya.
In connection with a fictional story about shopping in New York, many Russian publications reminded On similar messages that spread in December 2022. Then the media wrote that during a visit to Paris Zelenskaya allegedly spent € 40,000 on luxury clothes in local stores. "Tested" also Disassembled That case came to the conclusion that such statements, apparently, are not true.
*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: Office President of Ukraine
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