Neither Bellingcat nor the BBC, which the propagandists cite, have published such information.
Russian sources report that the head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak allegedly paid $27 million for a place on Time’s 100 most influential people list. This allegedly was revealed in a new journalistic investigation by the Bellingcat team. Propagandists even cite Eliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat, who allegedly attributed this to Yermak’s desire to score political points and potentially run for Zelenskyi’s post, as the president will reportedly stop performing his duties in late May due to undisclosed health issues. As evidence, the propagandists cite a short BBC News clip, which relays the results of the Bellingcat «investigation».
Andrii Yermak has indeed been included in the rating of the most influential people of the current year in the Leaders category and became the only Ukrainian in this list. The text about Yermak was written by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who now works with him in the international working group on security guarantees for Ukraine and on the promotion of Ukraine’s accession to NATO: «… a man who has been central in keeping the government running. Since the full-scale invasion, he has carried Zelensky’s message to the world, building a strong network of friends of Ukraine, from the West to the Global South, uniting them around issues from sanctions to the environment. … At the great moment for Ukraine and for democracy, Andriy Yermak not only serves a decisive leader—but he has proved himself to be one, as well.»
However, neither Bellingcat nor BBC News reported that the position in the ranking was obtained through corruption. This is proven by a simple search on the websites of both media. It is significant that this is not the first time that propagandists refer to Bellingcat in order to give credibility to their lies, despite the fact that this organization is recognized as a «foreign agent» and «undesirable» in Russia, and the investigators themselves are regularly by propagandists accused of political engagement and manipulation.
Read the debunking of another fake about the work of Bellingcat investigators in the article Fake: Zaluzhnyi Bribed for Giving Up Political Ambitions — BBC.
