Report: Zelenskyy 'Yacht' Story Influenced US-Ukraine Aid Debate

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • Rumors that Volodymyr Zelenskyy bought two luxury yachts — called Lucky Me and My Legacy — with aid money have reportedly been fueled by a website created by a former US Marine who is now living in Russia.1
  • The campaign was successful despite the now-debunked claim that Mr. Zelenskyy paid $75M for two yachts by using two advisers as go-betweens. The story went viral and was echoed on social media by Republican congressmen who have delayed any decision on further aid to Ukraine until next year.2
  • The Associated Press previously contacted the yacht company selling My Legacy, Burgess, which said it can 'confirm that MY LEGACY is currently for sale with Burgess as the exclusive listing brokerage house' and 'has not been sold.' The company selling Lucky Me, BehneMar, also said the claim is 'totally wrong and false.'3
  • According to BBC Verify, the story was picked up by DC Weekly, which gives the impression of being operated from Washington D.C. but the piece is hosted on a server in Moscow. Researchers at Clemson University claim that John Mark Dougan, a former US Marine and Florida police officer who relocated to Russia in 2016, was running the site. 1
  • Mr. Dougan said in a text message that he 'emphatically denies these assertions' and that he sold DC Weekly for $3K several years ago. He claimed to have nothing to do with the site's current operations. 1
  • Ukraine is ranked 116th out of 180 nations in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, although recent initiatives have greatly improved the country's ranking.1

Sources: 1BBC News, 2Democratic underground and 3Associated Press.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by New York Times. Corruption has plagued Ukraine for a long time, but the truth is that, even under the stress of the war, everyone from Pres. Zelenskyy down to the regular citizenry has been cracking down on money laundering and bribery. Zelenskyy and his constituents not only wish to rid their society of corruption for moral reasons but know that if they don't, they won't receive the necessary funding from the West. Pro-Russia politicians in the West are ignoring the progress made in Ukraine to undermine further US assistance.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Grayzone. One claim allegedly being proven false doesn't mean the funds sent to Ukraine have been necessary or clean. Among the tens of billions in aid packages just as of June, billions went toward paying off Ukraine's World Bank debt, millions went to a Polish think tank and a Canada-based Ukrainian TV channel, and another $1.5M went to a private equity firm to relocate Ukrainian business in Georgia. The entire picture of significant Ukrainian corruption needs to be further explored, regardless of the outcome of this story.

Predictions