Ukraine: Journalist Lyubov Velychko received a number of threats after her investigation of Russian telegram channels

August 13, 2020, Kyiv, Ukraine -- Women journalists covering and investigating the hostilities in the East of Ukraine, including the occupation of Crimea and corruption, continue to suffer from online threats and harassment. Coverage of such topics remain resulting in persecution, harassment, pressure or various types of threats.

Ukrainian Journalist Lyubov Velychko received threats after her investigation analyzing 10 thousand messages on Russian Telegram channels "The Dark Knight", "Max Buzhansky", "Dubinsky.pro", "Legitimate" and "Resident" which was published on July 13th by Liga.net, Texty.org, and the Institute of Mass Media.  

Lyubov Velychko told Texty.org that after her investigation was published, her Facebook page was attacked by real and fake users. These commenters insulted her and threatened to find and punish her for such investigations. At the same time, she received threats and curses in her personal messages’ inbox, which were aimed to prevent her from writing on topics related to the depth of the Russian war against Ukraine. L. Velychko announced this on her Facebook page on July 15, 2020.  

In addition, the wife of blogger and politician Anatoliy Shariya Olga posted a video on her YouTube channel in which she criticized and called Liubov Velychko out on her investigation. 

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF)  L. Velychko, on July 29th, turned to police for protection but so far no one has been held responsible. She has filed two complaints with the Brovary police department, the first about the death threats and the second about restriction of her work as a journalist.  

After her detailed investigation, the journalist is determined that threats against her could be administered from Russia. She told Texty.org that her work is very unprofitable for the Russian secret services. And she understands that they are watching her work very closely: 

"After reading the investigation into the influence of telegram channels on the deputies of the" Servant of the People "party," Resident "and" Legitimate "gathered their thoughts for almost a day - and reacted to the text the day after publication. After all, agreeing on guidelines from the FSB leadership on how to react properly is a bureaucratic process that shouldn’t normally take more than an hour, ”she said to Texty.org, adding that People's Deputy Maksym Buzhansky responded to the investigation a couple of hours after the publication.  

The day after the investigation was launched, the Resident and Legitimate telegram channels published four news items each, in which they tried to convince them that they were not administered from the Russian Federation. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism documented nine cases of attacks and threats against women journalists in Ukraine during the first half of 2020. Ukraine has doubled down on its efforts to silence the press when Covid-19 pandemic broke out. Last month Katerina Sergatskova was forced to flee the country following death threats she received due to her coverage exposing alleged links between a fact-checking organization and far-right groups.

 We find online harassment campaigns along with sexist attacks towards women journalists utterly despicable. We call upon Ukrainian authorities to investigate the threats and ensure Lyubov and all journalists’ safety in the country. We also urge Facebook to ban the accounts that used their platform for malicious intent.