President Zelenskyj naked in video? Yes, 13 years ago!

We have received repeated inquiries about a video clip that has been shared tens of thousands of times on Facebook since last year: For almost 30 seconds, you can see naked people dancing and jiggling around in a supermarket. One of the naked men looks very similar to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The comment on the clip: “Peace in Europe depends on this idiot.”

Od ove budale zavisi me u Evropi.

Posted by Branko Vukicevic on Tuesday, April 12, 2022

One can almost assume that the President of Ukraine has no time or leisure to film such a clip during the war against Russia. That's why two questions arise: Is that actually Volodymyr Zelensky? And if so: when and in what context were the images created? To answer that, let's start with a third question: Who actually is Volodymyr Zelensky?

___STEADY_PAYWALL___

Volodymyr Zelenskyj: comedian, actor, businessman

Born in 1978, the young “Wowa” was already someone in kindergarten and school who knew how to attract others. The biography “Zelenskyj” by Wojciech Rogacin quotes his mother: “He liked children, and the children liked him. Even in kindergarten and on the farm, he had a circle of peers around him who treated him as the leader of the group.” The “overambitious” person was considered charismatic even at a young age and thus managed to avoid conflicts.

After school, he studied law at the Kyiv National University of Economics. He graduated with a diploma, but he never practiced law. He was already a successful cabaret artist. First with a local team, then as part of the Ukrainian team, he enjoyed great success on the Russian game show KVN (Club of the Cheerful and Imaginative), in which teams of students compete against each other with skits.

In 1997, at the age of 19, he founded his own cabaret group, Kvartal 95, with which he toured the post-Soviet countries and continued to take part in KVN. In 2003, he founded the production company of the same name, Studio Kvartal 95, with friends who had accompanied him since school. The goal: to produce and market our own TV projects and entertainment shows. “Evening Kvartal” format started on the Ukrainian television channel 1+1 and has also been broadcast on the Inter channel since 2005.

Volodymyr Selenskyj also made a name for himself as an actor and presenter. “Some see him only as a comedian,” writes Wojciech Rogacin in his biography. “He was the head of an ensemble and a businessman, founded companies, employed hundreds of people, and his productions won prizes at festivals all over the world.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyj: The politician

repeatedly used the platform that enabled it to regularly broadcast “Abend Kvartal” After the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of eastern Ukraine by Russian mercenaries, he spoke out vehemently against it. In spring 2014, 1+1 and Inter broadcast a sketch in which Zelensky played Vladimir Putin's mistress: Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva, who has long been rumored to have a secret marriage to the Russian president. never forgiven him for this sketch . On the other hand, Zelenskyj spoke out in favor of Russian artists continuing to perform in Ukraine.

In 2015, Volodymyr Zelensky played a history teacher who suddenly finds himself in the office of Ukrainian president: “servant of the people.” This format was so successful that Zelensky founded a party with the same name and surprisingly won the presidential election in 2019. The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine finally started in 2022. The rest is history.

The naked Vovan

Pictures of a scantily clad or naked Zelenskyj have been floating around the internet for a long time. We have already dealt with two such images last year. The one that is supposed to show the future president at a gay pride event is fake. The other comes from a “political gangster rap” that satirized events in the spring of 2014 after the Euromaidan – in the program Abend Kvartal, produced by Kvartal 95.

And what about the music video that takes place in the supermarket and shows a naked man who looks like the younger Zelensky? This also comes from this entertainment show, but from 2010. At that time, a music video by the duo NikitA (Никита) was very successful in Ukraine: “Ropes” (Веревки) from the album Машина (“Maschina”, Auto). It shows the two singers naked in a shopping center:

By loading the video, you accept YouTube's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video

Always unblock YouTube

The singers of NikitA were guests in the Abend Kvartal studio and were confronted with a version of their successful hit in which the Kvartal 95 team performed naked:

By loading the video, you accept YouTube's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video

Always unblock YouTube

But it's not just the images that satirize the song , the lyrics also make fun of NikitA's music video: It connects sex and nudity with food and food from several different angles:

I'm going to spend a happy week in a food market,
getting drunk on the piles of herrings and char.
I'll hold a frozen halibut to my heart.
You belong to Me!

Here is a version of the hit with English subtitles:

By loading the video, you accept YouTube's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video

Always unblock YouTube

Conclusion: Yes, the music video really shows Volodymyr Zelenskyj. It is an excerpt from his show Abend Kvartal and was played to the pop duo NikitA, who are satirized in it. The clip is from 2010, long before the future Ukrainian president could be accused of having political ambitions. However, the audio track from the clip on Facebook was added later; it is not part of the original video.

Sources: Kvartal95 , IMDB , Spiegel , sevas.com , YouTube; Biography “Zelenskyj” (2022) by Wojciech Rogacin

More current fact checks on the Ukraine war:
Tank in the mud does not come from Ukraine
Harry Potter and the self-repairing skyscraper in Kyiv
Video: Subtitles of a speech by Putin on Ukraine are incorrect