A Facebook user, Beka Vardosanidze, whose pieces of disinformation has been verified by FactCheck in the past, published a photograph in social networks taken during Joe Biden’s visit to Kyiv on 20 February 2023. According to Mr Vardosanidze’s claim, Zelensky’s doppelganger is also visible in the photograph together with the President of Ukraine.
A claim was also promoted on Twitter that President Zelensky’s body double’s image was “leaked” in the Polish media (1,2).
In fact, the person in the photograph is not the Ukrainian president’s doppelganger but the Head of the Personal Security Detail, Maksym Donets, who was appointed by Mr Zelensky in 2019. Since 2019, Mr Donets has appeared together with the Ukrainian president multiple times. BBC has also denied claims about Volodymyr Zelensky’s doppelganger.
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