Is the audio recording genuine in which Vladimir Zelensky rudely criticizes the leaders of the USA, Germany and Poland?

In December 2023, a recording of a private conversation between two people, presented as the President of Ukraine and his wife, began to spread across the Internet. We checked whether this attribution is correct.

In the audio, a man who sounds like Zelensky says he just spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and learned of President Biden's strong concerns about the level of corruption in Ukraine. Biden allegedly even threatens to replace Zelensky with someone else if appropriate measures are not taken. The man is outraged by this, because, according to him, “without corruption the entire administration would simply fall apart.” Zelensky is extremely dissatisfied with the speed of arms supplies to Ukraine and the lack of clarity regarding Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. The recording is accompanied by obscene language addressed to the American President, German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Periodically, the interlocutor (it is assumed that this is the first lady of Ukraine Elena Zelenskaya) reacts with bewildered remarks. “I saw such allies in the coffin” - this is the key phrase of the main character of the recording. Many publications also indicate the alleged source of the leaked media file - a certain publication The Intel Drop.

Russian-language publications such as “Podolyak", "Capital-S" And "Kyiv news feed" The recording gained great popularity on social networks - “VKontakte", X, and especially in Telegram, where it was distributed, in particular, by the channels “Russia now"(244,000 views at the time of writing the analysis), "Sheikh Tamir" (191,000), "Putin on Telegram"(168,000), "Scott Ritter on Telegram"(90,000).

The issue of military and financial assistance from the West to Ukraine is one of the most discussed topics related to this country. In December 2023, American authorities warnedthat options are almost exhausted and the next package will be the last unless Congress approves additional spending. At the same time, President of Ukraine Zelensky periodically criticizes both his overseas colleagues for delaying assistance, and his European colleagues for obstacles in the country’s entry into the EU.

Indeed, the discussed audio recording with transcript is for the first time appeared online on December 6 on the website of The Intel Drop. “Given the decline in his (Zelensky’s – editor’s note) popularity both among Western allies and among the leadership of the Ukrainian army, the information leak could have been carried out by both Ukrainian and Western intelligence services,” the authors of the article claim, without naming a specific source. This presentation is quite in the spirit of The Intel Drop - this is a publication created in September 2022 and registered in the Netherlands, conducts one-sided propaganda and has repeatedly published false information on the topic of the war in Ukraine. In particular, in the spring it reported about a Russian strike on a secret NATO bunker in the Lviv region, and quite recently distributed a video allegedly proving the connection of the Elena Zelenskaya Foundation with child trafficking. Both cases were examined “Verified” and received verdicts “Fake”.

The main interest is the audio recording itself in question. Throughout its entire length, Vladimir Zelensky allegedly speaks a colloquial language, constantly switching from Ukrainian to Russian and vice versa, and he pronounces Ukrainian words with a strong Russian accent (“zakinchiv”, “peremіґ”, “batkіvshchinu”, “razumіїsh”). The accent of the alleged Elena Zelenskaya is even more noticeable - it is as if she does not know the Ukrainian language at all. In real life and president, And first lady Ukrainians have a sufficient command of their native language and do not experience such problems.

We cannot know for sure what the American leadership thinks about the level of corruption in Ukraine, but the European Commission just recently noted the country's relative success in combating this problem.

December 12 for viral recording reacted and at the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security under the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. The organization’s statement reads: “The audio recording of the conversation between Vladimir Zelensky and his wife Elena is fake. This is a cast recording. Both actors have a strong Russian accent, and their pronunciation is atypical and not similar to the Zelensky speech temperament. Fake makers do not hesitate to create and use false posts to spread misinformation about the current government in Ukraine. Their goal is to quarrel world leaders and achieve the withdrawal of financial and military support for Kyiv.”

Thus, there is not a single fact confirming the authenticity of the audio recording of the conversation between the Zelensky couple. It was spread by a site known for its anti-Ukrainian fakes, the conversation does not correspond to the manner of speech of the spouses, and the Ukrainian government agency issued a refutation.

Cover photo: screenshots from social networks

Fake

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