Research by a Bern based newspaper has blown apart a line of propaganda from the Kremlin.
A Russian based blogger, going under the name of the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, claimed that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many of his close lieutenants owned millions of francs worth of property in the Bernese Oberland.
The blog published what it claimed were land registry documents proving ownership by the Ukrainian leadership.
But a quick analysis of the paperwork showed they were fake.
The Berner Zeitung paper asked workers at the land registry office in Frutigen in canton Bern who immediately identified the papers as forged.
When the paper visited the addresses listed, instead of luxury chalets – there were apartment buildings or houses clearly owned by their residents.
Trees down, power out across western Switzerland
Police frank about French crime wave
Skiing to be more expensive this season
Thousands struggle with basic skills
Army sergeant throws cat at recruits
Clock change sends people to the ER
