Every good tale needs a villain, and in the story that Russia’s propaganda is telling about the war in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky is clearly portrayed as a despicable character. The accusations have been building up since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and range from outlandish and absurd ones (Zelensky is a nazi, a cocaine-addict, a pedophile, a satanist) to more conventional allegations of corruption. The latter are particularly insidious, because corruption in Ukraine is historically real and relevant, and European public opinion is naturally sensitive to the potential misuse of economic aid provided to Kyiv. The deluge of false stories can therefore create a lasting impression in many people that Zelensky is not trustworthy.

However, the volume and nature of the allegations against Zelensky are such that, when listed together, they can only appear ridiculous. EDMO published one year ago the list of the “stuff” that the Ukrainian president and his wife were allegedly said to have purchased, according to Russian disinformation. From villas in Tuscany to Hitler’s limousine, from casinos in Cyprus to Princess Diana’s dresses, the catalogue is both wide-ranging and wild. The last 12 months have provided additional items. For example, just to mention a few: a couple more yachts, 1.2 billion in real estate in Europe, a ranch in Wyoming, a gigantic mansion in Kiev, Bill Cosby’s villa, Diddy’s mansion, a multi-million dollar apartment in Dubai, and recently a stolen Cezanne’s painting.

It is clear that pro-Russia actors keep hammering this disinformation narrative into European public opinion also in 2026, even after it has been extensively debunked and prebunked. Maybe because it has some impact on the perception of Zelensky, in combination with other factors. So, it is very important to continue verifying these allegations and raising awareness about this Russian disinformation operation.

Zelensky is obviously not alone in this situation. Two other recurring targets of similar operations are, for example, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the French President Emmanuel Macron. And the viral circulation in many European languages and countries of a false story targeting the new Prime minister of Hungary, Péter Magyar, looks like an important step in escalating the smear campaign against him – already begun before the recent parliamentary elections – from the Hungarian level to a European one. EDMO is monitoring the circulation of the story, which accuses Péter Magyar of being a man who had committed “unspeakable acts in his private life”, including “cooking a puppy in the microwave”, and “inflicting domestic violence on his wife”. In the next EDMO monthly brief there will be the full list of countries where it was detected, but according to preliminary data it is possible to say that it was disseminated in German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish (it even fooled the PiS leader, Jarosław Kaczyński), Dutch, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Greek, Slovenian, Slovak, Czech, Croatian and obviously in English. The next weeks and months will tell whether Magyar has joined the group of European politicians targeted by pro-Russian disinformation campaigns aimed at destroying their public image.