Is Ukraine really turning land plots into toxic landfills for billionaire George Soros?

Russian state media are widely reporting on a rumored business transaction between the Kyiv authorities and well-known Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, alleging that fertile Ukrainian land plots are being sold with the intent of being turned into dumping grounds for toxic waste for his enterprises.

This was first reported by the Russian state agency TASS on December 1, citing a French freelance investigative journalist by the name of Jules Vincent as the original source for this news.

Euronews has examined this incriminating claim and dug deeper into the circumstances surrounding this allegation, calling them unfounded and appearing to be "part of a disinformation campaign".

"On his Twitter page, Jules Vincent published an audio recording where he first introduces himself in a non-native French accent claiming he’s been working as a reporter covering the environment for more than five years.

He then gives the floor to an anonymous representative of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine who says these lands will be 'given to companies for their gratuitous and indefinite use for the disposal of chemical waste'.

The video ends with a call from this freelance journalist to 'all those who care about the fate of nature to draw public attention to the harmful consequences' of this deal.

The Cube decided to dig a little deeper by looking into this so-called French journalist. Apart from this Twitter post, we couldn’t find any other original stories he has published in the past five years.

Moreover, his Twitter account remained inactive for a couple of years until the person behind it suddenly started retweeting environmental content as of November this year.

Moreover, in his Twitter bio, he claims to be part of a French association for freelance journalists called Pigiste.

However, the group recently tweeted claiming this journalist has never been part of their association, and asserted that the account is impersonating a reporter.

But this didn’t prevent other pro-Kremlin media from picking up this recording and sharing a screenshot of a decree supposedly signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy which allegedly corroborates the journalist’s findings.

One of the decrees shared was signed on 13 November 2023. So to verify this, The Cube checked the Ukrainian presidency’s website.

There’s only one decree that was signed on that date and it has nothing to do with agricultural land or George Soros".

The publication further pointed to the fact, that foreign companies only have the right to buy non-agricultural land for the construction of real estate under Ukrainian law, presenting another fact that debunks the TASS news narrative.