Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko is taking television station 1+1 to court for alleged libel, according to an announcement posted on the presidential website on March 27.
The station, owned by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, has aired a series of reports alleging that the president paid for parliamentary votes, made substantial profits from Russian business interests, and may have been involved in the death of his own brother Mykhailo in 1997.
Poroshenko released a statement, saying that he had filed suit to protect Ukraine “from the attacks of the major fugitive oligarch who sits abroad and thinks that he will control the strings of Ukrainian puppets.” The president said that Kolomoisky is attacking him because of the December 2016 nationalization of the troubled PrivatBank, where Kolomoisky was the top shareholder.
“I firmly believe that a red line has been crossed,” Poroshenko wrote.
1+1 Media sent Kyiv Post a written statement, saying that “every fact that was cited in the journalistic investigations is supported by evidence and witnesses,” adding that the president’s actions resemble an election-week publicity stunt.
“Baseless accusations against 1+1 testify to the pressure on independent media and freedom of speech, and are unacceptable from the current president,” the station’s press service wrote.
Kolomoisky, who now spends most of his time in Switzerland, was co-owner of PrivatBank along with Gennadiy Boholyubov. The government nationalized PrivatBank after the bank’s recapitalization plan failed and it was found to have close to $5.6 billion missing from its balance sheet, allegedly stolen by its owners.
The government used taxpayer money to bail out the bank and has since fought unsuccessfully to recover the missing sum from Kolomoisky and Boholyubov.
This battle is the reason behind the attacks on the president, Poroshenko Bloc lawmaker Artur Gerasimov wrote on Poroshenko’s presidential campaign website.
The most recent allegations against Poroshenko that aired on 1+1 came from fugitive lawmaker Oleksandr Onyschenko, who was accused of corruption and embezzlement and stripped of his parliamentary immunity in 2016. Onyschenko, who now lives overseas, accused Poroshenko of paying off lawmakers during important Rada votes and making money from Russia-based businesses.
1+1 also aired content that alleges Poroshenko’s involvement in the death of his elder brother in a car crash. Similar allegations have repeatedly aired on Russian media.
Poroshenko accused 1+1 of using Russian propaganda against him. Gerasimov called 1+1’s programs “A bacchanalia of black PR” and a “gross violation of the elementary norms of the journalistic profession.”
Gerasimov also accused 1+1 of supporting rival candidates Yuliya Tymoshenko and frontrunner Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Zelenskiy, an actor and comedian, plays the president of Ukraine on the show Servant of the People, which airs on 1+1. Zelenskiy had denied having close ties with Kolomoisky.
“I emphasize that I have never sued journalists. And now I’m not going to do it. I made a decision and filed a lawsuit against the channel,” the president wrote in his Twitter account on March 26.
Poroshenko previously sued the BBC in London for libel, after a BBC report alleged that Poroshenko paid $400,000 to ensure a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in June 2017. The BBC’s motion to dismiss the case was denied in February.
The president was previously accused of his own media chicanery, after broadcaster Zurab Alasania was dismissed as CEO of Suspilne Telebachennya (Public Television) in February. Alasania had posted a statement saying he was likely fired for insufficient coverage of Poroshenko.
