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By Alice Lee
What’s happening: A Russian influence campaign featuring a fabricated BBC news report claims that a famously stolen painting by French impressionist Paul Cézanne was visible behind Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a recent address.
A closer look: The claim has garnered 2.4 million views on X, where it is being cited by pro-Kremlin users as proof of Zelensky’s involvement in crime and corruption.
An April 22 X post by pro-Kremlin user @its_The_Dr, which has since been removed, shared the falsified BBC report and stated: “Cezanne painting worth $3M, stolen from an Italian museum a month ago was spotted in one of Zelensky’s now-deleted videos. Any idea how it could’ve ended up hanging on the wall in his office?” The post gained 1.3 million views and 16,000 likes before it was removed.
Another viral April 22 X post by @ElectBilzerian, an independent account pushing the candidacy of Florida Republican congressional candidate Dan Bilzerian, shared the video and said, “A Stolen Cezanne painting identified in a Jewish Mafia leader[’]s live stream, was stolen along with 3 other paintings from an Italian Museum years ago.” The “Jewish Mafia leader” is an apparent reference to Zelensky. The post received 1.6 million views in one...
The Department of the Attorney General says the man claiming to be the state’s chief technology officer at national conferences and on online platforms is not affiliated with the state of Hawaii a...