Context: Timur Mindich — a producer and co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio and a friend of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — has been charged with running a corruption scheme inside JSC “NNEGC Energoatom,”, the state operator of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), members of the scheme demanded kickbacks of 10–15 percent from Energoatom’s contractors. Amid the scandal, the opposition in Ukraine’s parliament called for the government to resign, and Mindich left the country.
The post with photographs that the authors of the News.by Telegram channel claim were taken inside the lavish home of Ukrainian businessman Timur Mindich, described as a friend of Volodymyr Zelensky, was published on November 10, 2025.
“NABU officers carried out searches at the home of Timur Mindich, co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio, who is described as ‘Zelensky’s moneyman.’ The businessman was not found at the scene — he left the country just hours before detectives arrived. ... Earlier this summer, photos of his luxurious residence surfaced online, including an image of a gold toilet,” the caption to the photos said.
WTF journalists reviewed the images and found they have nothing to do with Mindich’s home — or even with Ukraine. The gold toilet, the bed and the mansion belong to Alexey Safonov, a Russian official and former head of the Stavropol traffic police, who was arrested on bribery charges in 2021.
In late July 2025, Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak also spoke about a gold toilet in an apartment allegedly owned by Timur Mindich, but he was referring to a different bathroom fixture.
Reporters checked that claim as well and found that the property at the address cited by Zhelezniak is owned by other individuals with no connection to Mindich.
