Fact check: False claim circulates about George Soros and CNN interview on Ukraine

The claim: George Soros said on CNN he helped overthrow the former Ukrainian president

American billionaire George Soros founded the Open Society Foundations in 1993 to financially support the building of democracies globally. But some social media users claim his actions went beyond philanthropy in Ukraine.

A Facebook post shared March 14 shows various images of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.  

“George Soros acknowledged in an interview with CNN that he actively contributed to the overthrow of former Ukrainian President … making way for Zelensky (sic) who was born to Jewish parents and is the sixth and current president of Ukraine.” 

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The post generated more than 300 interactions in less than a week. Similar posts have spread widely on Facebook. But the claim is false.

A CNN spokesperson told USA TODAY the claim is false. USA TODAY only found records of one Soros appearance on CNN, and in it he didn’t mention any former Ukrainian president in that interview.

USA TODAY reached out to social media users who shared the claim for comment.

Soros made no such statement

The claim that Soros made such an admission on CNN is false, according to Lauren Bobek, a CNN spokesperson.

The only appearance Soros has made on CNN was on May 25, 2014, with journalist Fareed Zakaria, Jonathan Birchall, a spokesperson for the Open Society Foundation, told USA TODAY in an email. 

“I don’t recall any since then, and we have no record of any,” Birchall said.

In that interview, Soros spoke about “Putin’s actions and intentions in Ukraine, anti-Semitism and the sense of nationalism on the rise in Ukraine and in Europe,” according to the transcript. 

That same year, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, after his attempt to crush pro-western demonstrations, according to Britannica.

Nowhere in the interview does Soros mention Yanukovych or any former Ukrainian president. This conspiracy is tied to an ongoing disinformation campaign linking Soros to “regime changes” in Ukraine, according to the East StratCom Task Force Database.

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“I can authoritatively assure you that Soros has never ever said that he contributed in any way to what happened to Yanukovych,” Birchall said. 

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that Soros said on CNN he helped overthrow the former Ukrainian president. USA TODAY found no evidence to support the claim, and CNN and Soros’ foundation said it isn’t true. The conspiracy is tied to a disinformation campaign.

Our fact-check sources:

• East StratCom Task Force, accessed March 17, DISINFO: SOROS IS LINKED TO THE ORANGE REVOLUTION AND REGIME CHANGES IN UKRAINE
• CNN Press Room, May 25, 2014, Soros on Russian ethnic nationalism
• Britannica, accessed March 17, Viktor Yanukovych
• The Guardian, Jan. 25, 2019, Ukraine’s ex-president Viktor Yanukovych found guilty of treason
• The Open Society Foundation, accessed March 17, About
• International Renaissance Foundation, accessed March 17, About
• Britannica, accessed March 17, Petro Poroshenko
• Lauren Bobek, March 18, Email exchange with USA TODAY
• Jonathan Birchall, March 18, Email exchange with USA TODAY

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Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.