In August 2024, Russian media and Telegram channels reported that a company associated with the President of Ukraine acquired an expensive property in Tuscany from the British singer. We have verified the accuracy of this information.
According to Database Italia, British singer Sting has sold the Tuscan winery Tenuta del Palagio Wines. The value of the transaction, which took place in June, is estimated at approximately €75 million, and the new owner of the property is the Italian company San Tommaso S.R.L. This company indicated in the declaration of the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky with a note that its ultimate beneficiary is First Lady Elena Zelenskaya. Database Italia notes that the Tuscan winery changed ownership on June 28, two weeks after Zelensky’s visit to the G7 summit in Italy.
This news was spread by leading Russian media: “Channel One", RBC, "Gazeta.ru", "Arguments and facts", RT, Lenta.ru, "Russian newspaper" And Life. It also became popular on Telegram, including thanks to the channels “Sanya in Florida"(447,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Russia now" (191,000), "Uncle Slava"(185,000), "Voice of Mordor" (181,000) and "Evil proof"(181,000).
On August 5, Database Italia actually appeared on the website article about a deal involving singer Gordon Sumner, known under the pseudonym Sting. The material provides screenshots of a cadastral document confirming that the British artist sold his winery Tenuta il Palagio in the Tuscany region. According to this document, dated July 24, 2024, the winery allegedly changed hands on June 28.
The new owner is San Tommaso S.R.L. Zelensky indicates it in declarations throughout his presidency. Shortly before the 2019 elections, investigative journalists discovered, that the future head of state did not mention in a similar document a villa in the Tuscan city of Forte dei Mari, which this company had previously acquired. At Zelensky’s election headquarters then statedthat by law the candidate is required to declare his companies, but not their property. Subsequently, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption conducted an investigation against the President check regarding the legality of enrichment and possible conflicts of interest, but did not record any violations. In 2022, Italian media wrotethat the villa still belongs to the Zelensky family firm.
According to open sources, the Villa il Palagio estate, together with the Tenuta il Palagio winery, has been owned by Sting and his wife, actress Trudie Styler, since 1997. The winery is located on approximately 100 hectares of land, a quarter of which is vineyards.
The owners' names are also listed on the winery's regularly updated blog. Instagram. For example, on July 27 it was posted video with Sting and his wife visiting the estate. Although, according to the document from the Database Italia article, it has not belonged to the family of the British singer for a month.
"Verified" contacted manager Sales of the winery Tenuta il Palagio Tony Sasoy. He said that in recent days many partners have contacted him with questions about the Database Italia publication, but called it “complete nonsense” and “disinformation.”
Also one of the Pikabu users published a screenshot of a similar statement that he ordered on August 8 (anyone can do this for a small fee). According to this image, the owners of the winery have not changed in 2024. Similar document received fact checkers from the project Lead Stories.
Database Italia is a site registered in July 2020 and almost immediately acquired fame thanks to his publication about QAnon. According to this conspiracy theory, former US President Donald Trump is on a secret mission to rid the world of the Deep State elite - the Clinton clan, Bill Gates, George Soros and other politicians and businessmen who allegedly control a global network of pedophiles and criminals. Future publications on this topic continued appear on the site. Based on the results of 2020, the NewsGuard project turned on Database Italia to the list of the main resources spreading disinformation in Italy.
Initially, the publication about the Zelenskys appeared on the Italian-language database.it for some reason in English. This version was then removed, but remains in archive. Perhaps the site owners decided that a foreign language might raise unnecessary suspicions about the origin of the article. However, the accompanying video, which contains the same information, remains in English.
In recent months, materials have been appearing on the Internet with enviable regularity about the purchase of expensive movable and immovable property by Zelensky or his relatives in different parts of the world. "Verified" already sorted it out similar messages about transactions with mansions in the USA and Great Britain, a villa in Egypt, Goebbels' estate in Germany, a Cypriot casino, Italian yachts and a French car. All of this news turned out to be fake, and in many cases the style was the same: either on a new website, supposedly belonging to a “reputable media outlet,” or on an old website, but with a dubious reputation, an article appeared with “revelatory” photo, audio, or video materials.
Cover photo: Database.it
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