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| - Zelenskyy’s face was digitally manipulated and placed over the figure of a different individual dancing in an unrelated video.
In July 2024, a viral video claimed to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy doing a belly dance in what appeared to be a sparkling red bodysuit.
A post on X shared the video and wrote in the caption that Zelenskyy was "president in the morning and a dancer at night."
(X user @Michael0Hoss)
The post spread across X for several months, going back to early 2024, and has also been viral on TikTok. The background music has also varied in each post that shared the dancing.
However, the video is a deep fake that took Zelenskyy's face and digitally placed it on the figure of another individual doing the belly dance in the video. We found evidence of the video dating back to 2020 as well as multiple other videos of the same individual dancing with the same costume and in other settings. As such, we rate this video as "Fake."
Using reverse-image search, we found what appeared to be an unaltered version of the video being shared on the internet around 2022. This version showed an individual in the same costume and setting, but with very different features from the Ukrainian president.
Digging further into the origins of this video, we found TikTok user vusaaal published the video in October 2020. This TikTok account also shared numerous videos of this individual doing more dance moves in the same setting, with the same costume in different settings, or the wearing variations of the outfit in other contexts.
According to Google Translate, the above caption stated, "Dances, my dances, how do you like them? Modern or oriental?"
The same person reposted the video in 2023 on TikTok. In 2022, the account shared a different portion of the dance but in the same setting and outfit. In 2021, the TikTok account shared a video of the dancer performing on what appeared to be a television show wearing headgear and a slightly different version of the same outfit. The same person reposted the video in 2023 on TikTok.
The TikTok account directs us to an Instagram account for the user Vusaaaal, which apparently belongs to Vusal Mekhtiev, a "Dancer/choreographer" based in Turkey. We reached out to the Instagram user and will update this post if we get more information.
This is not the first time Zelenskyy has been the subject of rumors based on his entertainment background. Before he was president, he was a comedian and actor and had performed in a parody music video and the Ukrainian version of the dance competition, "Dancing With the Stars." As a result, numerous, unrelated videos have been falsely manipulated to show Zelenskyy in unusual situations, like belly dancing, and appearing to make false statements.
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