Disinformation claiming that the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been living lavishly is once again circulating in the region. This time, he “purchased” an opulent villa with a winery and a vineyard belonging to the English musician Sting. Colleagues from the Georgian Myth Detector checked with the Italian real estate registry where they confirmed that as of August 8, 2024, the property still belonged to Sting. This is just one piece of disinformation among many that undermine the reputation of Zelensky and his family. The disinformation has been spreading since the G7 economies approved $50 billion for Ukraine and as Ukrainian forces have made progress in the Kursk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is once again the target of disinformation, this time over an alleged luxury purchase of the 75 million euro “Tenuta il Palagio” property in Tuscany. It is claimed that the property, which includes a luxurious villa with a winery and vineyards, was bought from the famous English musician Sting. This disinformation has been fact-checked by a number of colleagues from Italy, Ukraine, Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia and Georgia.

First of all, it should be pointed out that this is a fabrication. Disinformation began spreading from the Database Italia website. Although the article has since been removed, traces of it can still be found through Google search.

After that, this post migrated to the Russian (dis)information ecosystem 1tv.ru (Channel One Russia), Sputnik, Lenta, from where through the Serbian RT (Russia Today), Informer, Pravda and Borba it expanded in our region as well. In our country, an article on this topic can be found in Vecher (vecer.press). On social media, we found only one post that did not attract much attention or interest from the Macedonian audience.

In any case, the crucial evidence on which all online portals rely on are documents from the alleged transaction that states that Sting and his wife purchased the wine estate in 1997 and sold it on the 28^th of June of this year. And, according to the “agreement”, the buyer is Zelensky’s company “San Tommaso SRL.”

The Georgian fact-checking organization Myth Detector published that they had asked the Italian real estate registry Agenzia delle Entrate to provide information on this property. According to the document they received, in the system last updated on the 8^th of August 2024, the owner of the Tenuta il Palagio is still Sumner Gordon Matthew, the musician Sting.

In addition to that, pictures taken on the property can be seen on Sting’s official Instagram and Facebook profiles, published on August 7 and August 9.

We know when Sting is back in his Tuscan sanctuary because the air is filled with song and melodies … – says the post

A series of fabrications about Zelensky’s alleged luxuries

Since the start of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as members of his family, have been one of the main targets of disinformation, not only in our region but around the world. The goal is to expose the alleged corruption of the Ukrainian president and thereby reduce the financial aid that Ukraine receives. Truthmeter has covered this topic several times this year:

• • It is not true that Zelensky’s wife bought a Bugatti car worth 45 million euros
  • No evidence supporting the claim that Zelensky bought a mansion from British King Charles III for 20 million dollars
  • Financial aid to Ukraine overthrown by disinformation
  • Zelensky did not buy two yachts worth 75 million dollars
  • Zelensky did not buy a casino in Cyprus

It is important to mention why this disinformation is being spread right now-two moments are crucial. First, during the G7 summit in Italy, Ukraine received significant financial support from Western economies, which will mobilize an additional $50 billion using frozen Russian state funds abroad. Second, according to Politico, the offensive by Ukrainian forces in Kursk, Russia, has embarrassed Putin and showed that because of the lethargic response of the Russian command 92 settlements are under Ukrainian control. In order to deflect the focus from Kursk, all sorts of vectors of disinformation attacks are employed, even ones that can be easily checked and debunked.