No, Zelensky hasn't bought Eagle's Nest, it is still in ownership of Bavarian state

A common theme among spreaders of disinformation is that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a Nazi or that he embezzles Western aid intended for Ukraine. In the past, disinformation spreaders have falsely claimed that he bought a former mansion of Joseph Goebbels, two luxury yachts or even Adolf Hitler's Mercedes.

According to the latest claims, Zelensky allegedly purchased another site steeped in history: the so-called Eagle's Nest, or Kehlsteinhaus, in Berchtesgaden in the southern German state of Bavaria, for 14.2 million euros. The false claim was shared on social media platforms such as Facebook or X in February 2025. It was also shared in other languages such as Bulgarian, Czech, French, German and Polish , as well as by the state-supported Russian media outlet "Pravda".

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Screenshot of the claim on Facebook: February 27, 2025

However, there is no evidence of that the property has been sold to Zelensky. 

The Eagle's Nest, or Kehlsteinhaus, is situated on the Kehlstein mountain in Berchtesgaden, Upper Bavaria. It was built between 1937 and 1938 and was intended to be "a place of political representation away from the public eye", since it is located close to the Obersalzberg, as the Berchtesgaden destination management explains on its website. Between 1933 and 1945, Obersalzberg was, after Berlin, the "most important centre of power in the Nazi dictatorship, where decisions were made about persecution, war and genocide". Ultimately, however, Adolf Hitler rarely visited the Eagle's Nest, and when he did, it was only with diplomats or other guests from abroad. The excursion site was instead used by Nazi officials working at Obersalzberg "for recreation and private parties".

After World War II, the Eagle's Nest was initially leased to the German Alpine Association, Berchtesgaden section, according to the website of the excursion destination. A restaurant was opened there in 1952 and the site has been open to the public ever since. Onsite, there is an exhibition about the Nazi past  of the Eagle's Nest. The Documentation Centre Obersalzberg, which provides information about the Nazi dictatorship and the history of the place, is also located near the bus stop to the Eagle's Nest.

The posts containing the false claim shared a video clip showing historical footage of the Eagle's Nest together with images of visitors on their way to the site. It also shows alleged visitor numbers from 1999 to 2021, which appear to have dropped dramatically from 2020 onwards -- a factor which is said to have led to the sale. As a result, the Eagle's Nest is allegedly expected to be closed to the public from 2025. Finally, an alleged quote from the managing director of the state-owned company Immobilien Freistaat Bayern (IMBY) and an alleged purchase agreement between IMBY and the company San Tommaso S.R.L. are shown. The company in question is one of Zelensky's companies.

Bavaria denies the sale

The Eagle's Nest is in the property of the state of Bavaria. The administration of state-owned real estate is the responsibility of IMBY, which is listed in the alleged purchase agreement. On February 7, 2025, the company posted a press release on its website in which it called the claim "deliberate misinformation". The Eagle's Nest "continues to be owned by the Free State of Bavaria", the state-owned company stated. It said that a sale had neither taken place nor was planned. IMBY also addressed details from the video: "The alleged purchase agreement shown in the video is a forgery, and the same applies to the alleged quote from IMBY's management". It will also take legal action against the misinformation.

In the alleged purchase agreement, Petra Schmid is listed as the representative of IMBY. Her stated function as head of the regional office for the region of the Upper Palatinate is correct. However, the spelling of her name does not match that used in the signature (Schmidt). According to the false claims, the contract was concluded with a company called San Tommaso S.R.L. According to an entry from 2022 in the Ukrainian asset registry, this company belongs to Zelensky's wife, Elena Zelenska. In March 2019, the investigative journalist project, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), reported that Zelensky -- presidential candidate at that time -- had failed to include a villa in his declaration of assets that his company San Tommaso S.R.L. had purchased two years previously.

AFP contacted the notary's office that is said to have certified the alleged purchase agreement for comment. But no response had been received at the time of publication. Nevertheless, it is not the first time that such a false claim has circulated. At the end of 2023, AFP debunked a similar false claim that another of Zelensky's companies, Film Heritage Inc., had purchased the former villa of Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, near Berlin. That, too, was also based on an alleged purchase agreement that was proved to have been forged.

Eagle's Nest plans to open in May 2025

According to the website of the Berchtesgaden destination management, the planned opening date for the tourist attraction for the coming season is in May, 2025. The IMBY press release also states that the Eagle's Nest "will resume regular seasonal operations in May 2025". The fact that the attraction is closed during the winter is nothing new. Nor is it an indication that the property has been put up for sale. According to the radio broadcaster, Bayernwelle, the reason why the house is closed is simply that the road leading to it is not passable during the winter months.

According to the shared video, the Eagle's Nest was put up for sale primarily due to an alleged decline in visitor numbers. The number of visitors is said to have plummeted from around 169,000 in 2019 to around 53,700 in 2020 and 44,700 in 2021. AFP was unable to find such data, using a keyword or reverse image search for the graphic. However, visitor numbers for 2023 suggest that such claims are untrue: nearly 280,000 visitors arrived by busy at the Eagle's Nest between May and October 2023, according to an end-of-season report by Bayernwelle. However, since the Eagle's Nest is also accessible by foot, it can be assumed that hikers are not included in the data and that the actual number of visitors was possibly higher.

Russia seems to be behind the disinformation

An English-language post containing the false claim included a link to an alleged news website called "Aktuelle Nachrichten in Deutschland" ("Current News in Germany"). This site published an article with the same false claim and the video, without stating a publication date or an author's name. The website lists a company and an address in Dresden, Germany, in the imprint, which AFP was also unable to find.

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Screenshot of the post on X, highlighting by AFP: February 25, 2025

The international research project Gnida Project, which specialises in exposing Russian disinformation campaigns, said in a post on X that the false claim is part of a campaign called "Storm-1516". The German research network Correctiv and the US journalism project NewsGuard, which specialises in evaluating the credibility and transparency of websites, reported on the "Storm-1516" at the end of January 2025. According to the report, a former US police officer was involved in the operation. He had set up hundreds of websites designed to influence the German federal election campaign via disinformation. The alleged news website containing the video about the alleged sale of the Eagle's Nest was among these websites.

This assessment is further supported by the fact that the false information was shared, among others, by the X-account "Mina7777". The non-profit organisation Alliance4Europe, which works against disinformation and systematically evaluates such campaigns, named this account among those influencers who disseminate content from Russian disinformation campaigns.