The owners of a hotel in the north on Tuesday denied rumours that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy owns the property.

It had been rumoured that Zelenskiy owned the Vuni Palace hotel in Karakoumi, on the outskirts of Kyrenia, with multiple Greek Cypriot websites claiming he had bought the hotel.

The rumour was that the hotel had been sold to a company by the name of Film Heritage Inc, but a spokesperson for the hotel itself confirmed to the Cyprus Mail on Tuesday that the hotel is still under the ownership of the Oscar Group of Companies.

The Oscar group was founded by Turkish Cypriot Erdem Oskar, a native of Avdimou who moved to Kyrenia after 1974, and who died in January.

A spokesperson for the Oscar group confirmed to the Cyprus Mail that the company still owns the Vuni Palace hotel and that Zelenskiy is not one of the group’s shareholders.

Asked to comment on the rumours, President Nikos Christodoulides said the matter is being investigated by the government, but that “so far, nothing of the sort has emerged.

“When the investigation has been completed … we will be able to say more, but at the moment I can tell you that as of five minutes ago, I have been informed that no such thing is emerging. We shall see later,” he said.

He added that the investigation is being conducted alongside other countries.

Later on Tuesday, the Ukrainian embassy described the rumour as Russian propaganda.

“In reality, this fake information is yet another lie aimed at discrediting Ukraine and its leadership in the eyes of the world community,” it said.

It added that “no evidence” had been provided to support the claim.

“The information itself is false. Its dissemination is also intended to create diplomatic tensions between Ukraine and Cyprus,” it said.

“We urge readers and media professionals to trust only reliable sources and to be cautious of manipulations and Russian propaganda.”

The confusion seems to have arisen from the hotel casino’s website, which attributes its copyright to a company by the name of Film Heritage Inc.

Film Heritage Inc was the name of a company owned by Zelensky’s wife Olena Zelenska, and which owned assets in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Belize and Cyprus at the time of the release of the Panama papers in 2019.

However, the Oscar group’s spokesman insisted that the name was a coincidence, and that a company by the same name had developed the casino’s website.

He added that the company had no intention of selling the hotel.

The rumour seems to have been sourced from a report on Turkish news website OdaTV. The website also pointed out that the hotel is currently not taking bookings via popular booking website Booking.com, and said this is “probably due to the ownership changing process”.

However, the hotel is still taking bookings via its own website.