BBC: the fake about Zelenskyy’s yachts was aimed at US congressmen

Disinformation about the fact that the president of Ukraine bought two yachts with the money of American aid had an impact on US congressmen.

The investigation into the disinformation campaign was carried out by BBC journalists.

For the first time, a fake that people from the entourage of Volodymyr Zelenskyy purchased two yachts with a total value of 75 million dollars appeared at the end of November. The disinformation was spread on a YouTube channel that has several subscribers and one video.

The next day, the fake was published by the news site DC Weekly, adding photos of both yachts — Lucky Me and My Legacy — and documents purporting to confirm the sale of the vessels.

Meanwhile, luxury yacht brokers have said the allegations are false. The sales documents were found to be forged, while Lucky Me and My Legacy were still listed for sale.

The Ukrainian government also denied the false information. At the same time, the fake story reached the American Congress, which is considering providing additional aid to Ukraine. Some of the congressmen are against further support of Kyiv.

“Whoever votes to fund Ukraine is funding the most corrupt foreign war money scheme in our country’s history,” Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Green wrote on her X page, referring to the yacht rumors.

BBC journalists discovered that the website DC Weekly, which is allegedly located in Washington, has a connection with the Russian Federation. It was founded by former US Marine John Mark Dugan, who has been living in Russia since 2016. BBC Verify also discovered that part of DC Weekly’s website is hosted on a server in Moscow.