The entourage of incumbent President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, who lost the run-off of the presidential election to Volodymyr Zelensky, is spreading fake news being actively spread, including by Russian media, which could be evidence of tight cooperation of the cronies of Poroshenko with Russian media, the team of Zelensky has said in a statement.

"Despite the crushing defeat of Petro Poroshenko in the presidential election, the "fake library" of his name continues its dirty deed. For example, over the past few days, people from Petro Poroshenko's entourage have fabricated several frankly false news that, nevertheless, went to mass media, including, the Russian ones. This pushes on the conclusion of close cooperation between Poroshenko's inner circle and the Russian media in order to discredit the newly elected president of Ukraine," Zelensky's press service said on Monday.

Zelensky said that People's Deputy from the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko parliamentary faction Volodymyr Ariev, who "previously called Zelensky a drug addict in his social media pages, and who, by the way, personally encountered European law enforcement agencies smuggling drugs," said the fact that on holiday in Turkey during a barbecue lunch, German politician Gregor Gysi, who lobbies for the interests of Russia in PACE in matters of sanctions against the Russian Federation, was seen next to Zelensky.

"Then it turned out that this was an employee of a Turkish restaurant, the cook Firat was next to Zelensky. Fake newsmaker Ariev updated his Facebook post and even apologized, but his false message was spread in the media," the press service said.