Nikolay Yankovsky
"The more monstrous the lie, the more readily it is believed." This Goebbels-like dictum seems to have been adopted by certain Ukrainian journalists. A striking example is a series of publications in domestic media about how the former owner of the Stirol concern, Nikolai Yankovsky, allegedly siphoned $1,1 billion out of the country. But first things first.
On July 16, Zerkalo Nedeli published an article titled "Mykola Yankovsky Is Becoming a Symbol of Ukrainian Corruption in the West." The authors, Mikhail Orlov and Peter Byrne, cited a number of Western media publications to "expose" schemes used by Stirol to siphon money out of Ukraine through offshore companies between 2003 and 08. Three days later, RBC-Ukraine published a similar article, this time by the American investigative agency Kleptocracy Initiative.
Needless to say, the fight against offshore schemes is a just cause. However, even a cursory examination of the aforementioned materials evokes a feeling of mild bewilderment. This, upon closer examination, develops into a firm conviction that these materials have nothing to do with journalism.
Let's start with the fact that the overwhelming majority of "Western media reports" cited by domestic publications don't exist. Specifically, Zerkalo Nedeli claims that the authoritative publication EU Observer devoted a large piece to the Yankovskys' business schemes. The ZN article even contains a hyperlink that leads to a non-existent page.
However, no one is immune to technical errors, so we attempted to find the aforementioned material on the EU Observer website ourselves. Unfortunately, no material was found on the site for search queries containing the keywords "Yankovsky" and "Stirol."
The situation is similar with the website of the American agency Kleptocracy Initiative, whose materials are supposedly the basis for the "exposés." Authors of articles in Russian media claim that over 800 pages on the Kleptocracy Initiative website are devoted to the "Yankovsky schemes." But here's the problem: the website's search engine doesn't return any of these phantom pages.
Moreover, when we called Washington and inquired about the investigative materials from an agency representative, the response was one of bewilderment and a request to send a request with links to Ukrainian media publications by email. Which, of course, we did. In response to another similar request, Kleptocracy Initiative Executive Director Charles Davidson responded as follows:
"1. To the best of our knowledge, the Kleptocracy Initiative was unaware of Mr. Yankovsky prior to your contact. We did not publish, republish, or otherwise distribute any documents or other information related to him. /…/
2.We have not given any permission for the use of our logo or any other materials associated with the Kleptocracy Initiative in this connection."
Charles Davidson, by all accounts, is a very polite man. Perhaps it was only politeness that prevented him from directly stating, "The authors of the articles you reference are liars and frauds." However, the response from the executive director of the Kleptocracy Initiative to our inquiry leads precisely to this conclusion: Peter Bern and Mikhail Orlov are liars who used someone else's brand for their own dubious purposes.
However, a number of Western media publications cited by the authors of the ZN and RBC articles do indeed exist. Specifically, the American publications AMD Magazine and Haute-lifestyle.com published relevant materials. But here's the interesting thing: the author of both of these articles is none other than... Peter Byrne, who, by a strange coincidence, is also one of the authors of the article in Zerkalo Nedeli.
Interestingly, Ukrainian media portray Bern as an internationally renowned investigative journalist. However, in his resume for AMD Magazine, he presents himself somewhat more modestly: "A journalist based in Kyiv, Ukraine, accredited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine since 1999. My articles have appeared in various English-language media, including Kyiv Post, Prague Post, Echo of Sofia, Krakow Post, BBC, ARD, Radio Netherlands, Deutsche Welle, Fox News, and others."
Incidentally, the material about the Yankovskys is his only text in Zerkalo Nedeli during the entire existence of the publication.
Bern's co-author, Mikhail Orlov, is somewhat more prolific, having published four articles in ZN. However, the second-to-last one dates back to 2013. Therefore, the authors of the article are not staff journalists for the publication.
However, they are almost certainly the authors of the second article, published on RBC and authored by the Kleptocracy Initiative. Which, as we wrote above, has no clue that it conducted such an investigation.
The fact that both publications were written by the same authors is confirmed by several factors. First, individual paragraphs are repeated almost verbatim in both publications. Second, both publications use the same infographics for illustrations, without attribution.
It's an interesting picture, isn't it? Two journalists concocted a story and posted it on every platform available to them. They used a fake link to a globally renowned agency to back up their claims. And they presented the whole thing as an international scandal—that because of the Yankovskys, Ukraine was at risk of losing any aid from Western countries.
Moreover, in their materials, the aforementioned journalists openly blackmail the Prosecutor General's Office, claiming that if it doesn't deal with the Yankovskys themselves, Western investigative agencies will do so instead. And then, they say, the Prosecutor General's Office will suffer enormous shame. To support their claims, these journalists even cite the names of agencies and journalists allegedly interested in the case. Specifically, they cite the OCCRP anti-corruption consortium, known for its work on Panamagate, and Guardian journalist Oliver Ballou. In mid-July, Bern and Orlov claimed that OCCRP and the Guardian would soon publish new details of the investigation. It's now late September, but, as expected, no publications have followed.
Frankly, this all very much resembles a media sting. The goal could very well be to seize assets. Who exactly is behind this order remains to be seen. However, it's already clear that these journalists are not concerned with the truth in their publications, but rather with pursuing purely mercenary interests. For this purpose, they are willing to lie, distort, and even steal. The episode with the stolen Kleptocracy Initiative brand clearly confirms this.
Oleg Boyko
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