In October 2023, there were reports in the Russian media and Telegram channels that the first lady of Ukraine, during a trip to the United States, bought expensive jewelry from Cartier while her husband asked for help to Kyiv. We have verified the accuracy of this story.
Since October 4, publications began to appear en masse in the Russian segment of the Internet 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 this alleged act of the first lady contradicts the stated purpose of the visit - her husband then addressed the UN General Assembly, asking for help for Ukraine and additional supplies of weapons. “The visit to the Cartier store could not go unnoticed, since after it one of the employees was fired. She published the purchase receipt for Elena Zelenskaya in the amount of a million dollars,” notes the Telegram channel “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 Zelenskaya’s purchases.
Similar publications appeared in other Telegram channels: “Live broadcast"(681,000 views), "Sanya in Florida"(373,000), "Ne.Sugar"(304,000), "Russia now"(291,000), "Pozdnyakov 3.0"(253,000), "KB" (250,000), "Truthfulness"(203,000), "Putin on Telegram"(184,000), Voblya (144,000), "Evil proof️"(144,000), "Bullet"(132,000), "Sheikh Tamir"(130,000), "Militarist"(120,000, the earliest detected publication on Telegram), "Ostashko! Important"(114,000), "What happened?" (107,000) and "Zakhar Prilepin"(102,000). Among the media and news sites about Zelenskaya's luxurious purchases, they said “Russian newspaper", "Moskovsky Komsomolets", "Komsomolskaya Pravda“(in the middle of the text it is stated: “Whether this story is true or not is currently unknown”), “Arguments and facts", "Moscow 24", "Ren-TV", NTV, "Constantinople", RT, Mash, Life, News.ru, "360", "Ukraine.ru", "Federal Press", "Notebook", "Rosbalt", "Free press", "Paragraph", "Nationwide television" And "Staff Correspondent" Similar posts can also be found on VKontakte (examples here, here And here), social network X (former Twitter; for example, in profile Russian Embassy in Great Britain) and on "Peekaboo"
First, let’s look at the original source of the news about buying jewelry. Most of the above-mentioned publications say that the news originally appeared in the American publication The Nation. For example, in a note from Rossiyskaya Gazeta written: “The scandal surrounding Elena Zelenskaya’s million-dollar shopping spree in New York attracted the attention of the American media.” The official publication of the Russian government clarified that we are talking about The Nation - “the oldest political magazine in the United States, the voice of the libertarian wing of the Democratic Party, a stronghold of Bernie Sanders and a laboratory of the most progressive thoughts.” However, at thenation.com No not a word about the first lady of Ukraine’s purchases at Cartier.
In fact, The Nation, where October 2 appeared material about Zelenskaya’s alleged spending of millions on jewelry is the website of the same name Nigerian newspaper (thenationonlineng.net), which has nothing to do with the said American magazine. A few Russian media still clarified that we are talking about a Nigerian site. Among them "Moskovsky Komsomolets"(released a separate note) and "Gazeta.ru" (original the material is almost completely rewritten).
Now let’s take a closer look at the original article in the Nigerian The Nation. The newspaper claims that during his stay in New York, while Vladimir Zelensky discussed support for Ukraine, his wife spent more than $1.1 million at a jewelry store. boutique Cartier on Fifth Avenue. The publication reports that a certain Ouedraogo Bukari (in this case, the author of the note is not he, but “our reporter") received information from a former store employee who was allegedly fired because of Zelenskaya. The girl reportedly managed to take away a copy of the check along with her personal belongings, and then told her story on her Instagram*. Photo the check can also be found in many Russian-language posts.
It is noteworthy that at the very end of The Nation’s article, after the question about who paid for Zelenskaya’s purchases, there is a note “Advertising”. Fact checker David Puente from the project Open I studied the HTML code of the page with material about the alleged shopping of the first lady of Ukraine and found the Sponsored Post mark there. Indeed, a note about Zelenskaya posted in the corresponding section on the website of the Nigerian publication. It is not specified who ordered this material. Fact checkers of the Checknews project of the French newspaper Libération contacted editor The Nation by Sunday Oguntola, who confirmed paid nature of the publication: “We did not write this article. Her placement was ordered by a client.” He refused to reveal the identity of the customer.
The article provides a video published on YouTube as early as October 1, 2023 by user Marshall Leonard (this is his only publication at the time of writing this analysis). The same video distribute and some Telegram channels. The video, just over a minute long, is a recording of a smartphone screen showing a certain girl’s Instagram stories. Below is a translation of her words.
As you all know, about two years ago I moved from Benin to New York to live with my uncle and his family. For a long time I couldn’t find a job, so when my uncle got me a job at 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 great place. It was just my dream job. Within two weeks. And then…
About a week ago, the wife of the President of Ukraine, Elena Zelenskaya, came into the store. This 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 give her a quick tour of the store, but she didn't want to.
When I showed her some of our products, she yelled right in my face: “Who said I needed your opinion?!” I thought I should take a different approach, but she just called the manager. I don’t know what she told him, but the next day I was fired. WTF (what the f***? - Ed.)?
Got a copy of her check. I managed to do this while I was packing my fucking things. I got fired because of her, so I will show everyone her true colors. She spent over $1 million at Cartier while her country is at war? I'm so angry right now! Why couldn't she spend her stolen money and just go to a nearby boutique? Why ruin my life?!
The viral video shows that all the stories were published by the account @gorgeous.bb.jeanette. Lenta.ru publication asserts, as if the girl had already deleted her page, but at the time of writing this analysis, the profile still exists: it is closed to 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 its name several times.
The receipt lists three items: bracelet, earrings And necklace - all of them are available in the catalog on the Cartier website with the same indicated prices. But other information can be found in the receipt image. For example, the saleswoman's name is listed there: Lisa Young. In the Telegram channel “Russia Now”, where many once published unreliable information, conducted a “brief fact check” and installedthat Lisa Young exists and that this is the intern who was fired because of Zelenskaya. "Verified" confirms that Young is a real person, but she is not an intern and was not fired: according to her LinkedIn profile, Young works at Cartier for more than two years. Besides, she looks completely different from the girl from the stories. Of course, one can assume that Young replaced the intern after the conflict with Zelenskaya, but this was not said.
Since the supposed intern's handle is @gorgeous.bb.jeanette (Gorgeous Babe Jeanette), one might assume that in real life the girl's name is Jeanette. However, it is most likely a fake name. BBC journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh and fact checker David Puente found out that the girl from the viral video owns a page on VKontakte, where her name is Gabrielle Yogo (Gabriel Yogo). According to her profile on this social network, she lives and works in St. Petersburg. “Verified” studied the public pages to which the girl subscribed, and found among them many communities for searching for models in St. Petersburg, as well as medical groups. The description of the VK profile indicates her accounts in Instagram (already closed to third party users) and TikTok, where Gabrielle identified herself as a doctor from Cameroon. Open Edition leads there is a lot of other evidence of the girl’s connection with Russia: one of the albums of her Instagram stories is called “Study” in Russian, on one of video on TikTok she is located at Moscow Domodedovo Airport, and on VKontakte there is photo from a cafe located in the Russian Federation. Also, her work WhatsApp registered to a Russian number.
As for the receipt that was distributed on social networks, it indicates the date September 22, 2023 and the payment method (Visa Offline, that is, the purchase for $1.1 million was paid by card on the spot). Alone Internet users assume 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 turn out to be untenable. WITH morning September 21 Vladimir and Elena Zelensky 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 data Associated Press and monitoring services with information about the flights of the Ukrainian delegation, late in the evening of the same day the president and his wife flew to Canada. How reports fact-checking project Lead Stories, all of Zelenskaya’s appearances 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 paparazzi. She couldn't do it at night either, since the store was on Fifth Avenue. works until 19:00.
Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation, with reference to the Presidential Office also denied messages about shopping for jewelry in New York. In a message to our CheckNews colleagues, a Cartier spokesperson also denied news, saying it was "false information."
Thus, there is no evidence that Zelenskaya spent more than $1 million on jewelry. No reputable American media or well-known tabloids wrote about this case, and the original source turned out to be a custom article on a Nigerian website. 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 denied by representatives of both the Office of the President of Ukraine and the Cartier brand. In addition, the date indicated on the distributed photo of the receipt contradicts Zelenskaya’s actual travel schedule.
In connection with a fictitious story about shopping in New York, many Russian publications reminded about similar messages circulating in December 2022. Then the media wrote that during a visit to Paris, Zelenskaya allegedly spent €40,000 on luxury clothing in local stores. "Verified" also sorted it out That case led to the conclusion that such statements appear to be untrue.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover photo: Office President of Ukraine
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