Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 9/7/2024; Author: Suljo Ćursulić
The claim that Ukraine’s president bought a hotel and casino in Cyprus originated from a fake hotel website, which listed a company connected to him as the owner.
Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has been the subject of various conspiracy theories and fake news on social media aimed at discrediting him. On June 3, 2024, a post was shared on Facebook claiming that Zelensky became the owner of a hotel and casino.
Zelensky became the owner of one of the biggest casinos in Europe
The post states that the casino in Cyprus was bought by Film Heritage Inc. owned by Zelensky.
Turkish media reports that Film Heritage Inc. bought the Vuni Palace hotel-casino, located in Kyrenia, a city on the northern coast of Cyprus.
Film Heritage Inc. is registered in Belize, and its owner is Volodymyr Zelensky (information about the offshore companies of the president of Ukraine became available from Pandora papers).
The post also featured a video in English, which repeats claims about purchasing casinos and hotels in Cyprus. As the video claims, the evidence for this purchase can also be found in the information on the website of the hotel bought by Zelensky.
The claim that Zelensky bought a hotel and casino in Cyprus, featuring this video, was also shared in other Facebook posts and on the Telegram social network.
This is how real fighters work !!😄😁💥 Zelensky spent 200 million dollars to buy a 5-star casino resort on the beaches of Cyprus through his company Film Heritage Inc.
On the Threads social network, the post was shared along with a comment implying that the purchase of the casino was made possible with money that “so-called Allies are sending aid to Ukraine”.
The web portals Vaseljenska, Russia Today Balkan, Srbin (.info), Intermagazin, Informer, Nulta tacka and Big Portal reported on June 4 and 5 that the authorities in Cyprus are investigating the information that Zelensky bought a hotel and casino there. In these articles, it is stated that the information was published by the “Turkish media”, that is, the online media OdaTV.
The video and posts on social networks stating that Zelensky bought a casino in Cyprus were the subject of analysis conducted by our partner fact-checking web portals Raskrinkavanje (.me) and Faktograf (.hr).
The claim that the Ukrainian president bought “one of Europe’s biggest casinos” was published in an article on the Turkish online media Oda TV on June 1, 2024. This article has since been deleted. It stated that Zelensky bought the Vuni Palace Casino Hotel in the town of Kyrenia, in the northern part of Cyprus. According to this source, Film Heritage Inc. is mentioned in the header of this hotel and casino’s website as a hotel owner.
However, this is not the authentic website of this hotel. According to a post by the Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network on the X social network, the website was created on May 29, 2024, just a few days before the article was published on OdaTV.
Vuni Palace Casino Hotel really exists and is located in the city of Kyrenia, in the northern part of Cyprus. Film Heritage Inc. is not mentioned as the owner on the official website of this hotel. This hotel is actually owned by the Oscar group, founded by Erdem Oskar. On June 4, 2024, the hotel denied any connection with Zelensky and denied allegations that they had a new owner.
The website https://casinohotelvunipalace.com/, where the name of the company Film Heritage Inc. is mentioned, is a fake website that has nothing to do with the official website of our hotel and which uses unauthorized and illegal photos that our company owns the copyright to.
The media also shared the announcement of this hotel, which states that it will take legal action due to the fake website and the use of original photos of the Vuni Palace Casino Hotel.
The case was also commented on by the President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, who stated for the media In-Cyprus on June 4 that there is no evidence that Zelensky is connected to any investment in this hotel.
The Embassy of Ukraine in Cyprus also made an announcement and denied Zelensky’s participation in the alleged investments in this hotel and casino.
According to the research network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Zelensky, before becoming the president of Ukraine in 2019, was indeed connected to the offshore company Film Heritage Inc. However, as stated, the information that this company bought a hotel in Cyprus was published on the hotel’s fake website.
Given all the facts, we assess the claim that Zelensky bought a hotel and casino in Cyprus, published on June 3, 2024, on Facebook, as fake news. We evaluate other posts as a distribution of fake news.
