Bern newspaper blows apart Kremlin propaganda

Pixabay

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. 

More from Bitesize News

  • Geneva could foot the G7 bill

    Geneva fears it will be left with the security bill from a G7 summit just across the border in Évian, according to 24 heures.

  • US NGO discovers Swiss child abuse cases

    Switzerland relies too heavily on an American NGO to detect child sexual abuse online, raising questions about the country's ability to protect children on its own.

  • French singer banned by Paleo

    The Paléo Festival in Nyon says it will no longer invite French singer Patrick Bruel, after a former volunteer accused him of inappropriate behaviour.

  • Cars going uninspected

    The cantons are struggling to keep up with mandatory vehicle inspections, leaving more than 550,000 checks overdue nationwide.

  • War may lead to rent rises

    Rents may rise again, says the bank Raiffeisen.

  • Not a heatwave, yet

    Summer has arrived, with temperatures climbing past 30 over the long weekend. Basel reached 31 and Sion hit 32.4, but MeteoSwiss, says this does not yet count as an official heatwave.

Download our app

  • Available on the App Store
  • Available on Google Play