Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine in its sixth week, social media continues to be inundated with unsubstantiated claims regarding the war and the figureheads associated with it. One such claim, that is being shared by many users on social media claims that the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is related to George Soros, the American philanthropist and billionaire. The posts cites a ‘Pentagon statement’ as the source of this information. Newschecker verified the claim to be false.
Among the many social media users who shared the claim is the handle @MUBreaking, whose tweet received over 2,000 retweets and 6,000 likes. The caption of the tweet, posted on April 6, 2022, reads “BIG: Zelensky is a cousin of George Soros. Pentagon official says.”
Several other social media users also put out similar claims about President Zelensky and George Soros being cousins.
Fact check/Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim, Newschecker first conducted a keyword search on the terms ‘Zelensky’, ‘George Soros’ and ‘Cousins’ and ‘Pentagon’. The search yielded no credible results.
On further research, Newschecker came across an interview of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from 2020, where he denied knowing George Soros personally when asked to comment about allegations of being backed by the American philanthropist & billionaire. “I am not familiar with a person named Soros. I have never met him. I’m definitely not one of that ‘followers of Soros’. There are probably people who studied at the expense of various donor funds and worked for companies that were founded by such funds. And one of these funds is Soros Foundation. I understand that in fact they received money from the fund of this person for which they studied abroad. The question of the influence of Mr Soros on Ukraine – I do not feel it. I think this is all an exaggeration,” Zelensky said.
Also read: Images Of Ex-Miss Ukraine Falsely Shared Claiming She Has Joined Ukraine’s Army
Newschecker also reached out to the Open Society Foundations, a charity organisation founded and chaired by George Soros, and were informed that there were no ties between the two men in question. “The allegation that George Soros is related to somebody making news, in this case Ukraine’s president, has been the basis for many conspiracy theories in the past. This current one, just like those that came before it, is false,” the organisation said in response to an email query.
Newschecker’s research however brought to the fore several conspiracy theories about George Soros’ role in Ukraine.
One such theory, debunked by USA Today, claims that George Soros confessed to have helped in overthrowing the previous President of Ukraine in a CNN interview. The article debunked the claim by looking into the transcript of the said interview to prove that no such confession was made.
Another widely shared claim was that George Soros has been issued an arrest warrant by Russia for his role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Quoting the senior communication adviser from the Open Society Foundation, Check Your Fact wrote “We can confirm that we have no indication that the Russian government has ever issued an arrest warrant for George Soros.” Similar claims of an arrest warrant against Soros by Russia were also viral in 2018.
Conclusion
The claim attributed to Pentagon sources, that American philanthropist and billionaire George Soros and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are cousins, is baseless and false.
Result: Fabricated/False
Sources
Response from Open Society Foundation
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Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
