Egyptian Journalist Who Accused Zelenskyy of Corruption Found Dead

Image copyright: Ukraine's Presidential Press Office

The Facts

  • Mohammed Al-Alawi — an Egyptian journalist who accused Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy of corruption — was found dead, showing signs of having been beaten, according to Egyptian police.

  • In August, Al-Alawi published an investigation, complete with local records, indicating that a luxury villa in the Egyptian resort of El Gouna — valued at roughly $4.9M — was recently acquired by Olga Kiyashko, Zelenskyy's mother-in-law. Al-Alawi alleged that Western funds, intended for military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine, had been used to facilitate the purchase.


The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

Zelenskyy understands that if Ukraine is to join NATO or the EU, it has to clamp down on its problem of corruption that existed long before the war with Russia. He is rightly taking steps to eradicate this problem and should be commended for taking Ukraine in the right direction.

Establishment-critical narrative

Despite Zelenskyy's public pronouncements on corruption, he himself has been at the center of graft allegations to the tune of several hundred million dollars. How can he be taken seriously on corruption if he's also involved?

Nerd narrative

There's a 0.1% chance that Ukraine will join the European Union before 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.


Establishment split

CRITICAL

PRO

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