Victor Zubritsky
Last week, Savik Shuster's show was taken off the air by the 1+1 channel. However, within minutes, it aired on Channel 112. Doesn't this channel fear either the president or Kolomoisky, who will surely sue it now? Who is behind the country's most brazen channel? It's clear that its nominal owner, Podshchipkov, is more of a figurehead. But the real people behind this channel are Vitaly Zakharchenko and Viktor Zubritsky. While the former is well-known, the latter is known only in narrow circles. So, let's try to find out who he is.
Viktor Zubritsky is a Poltava businessman. His name first surfaced in connection with the 2006 Poltava elections. At the time, he was involved in real estate and PR. For example, he worked for mayoral candidate Viktor Zhyvotenko. Apparently, it was during those years that he became friends with Zakharchenko, then deputy head of the Poltava tax office. The exact reason for their rapprochement and the basis for it remains unclear. Incidentally, his client lost the election to Andriy Matkovsky.
The next time Zubritsky's name surfaced was in connection with the assassination attempt on Filya Zhebrovskaya, the owner of the Farmak plant and sister of current Donetsk governor Pavlo Zhebrivsky ( read more about them in the article " Zhebrovsky-Zhebrivsky: Medicine, Drugs, Politics "). This was in 2009, and the latter was then on Yushchenko's team, meaning he was able to intercede for his sister at the highest level and demand an objective investigation to punish the real culprits. Then, Filya was wounded with a 5,62 caliber pistol outside her home. A certain Leus was arrested in this case, and it was he who led the way to Zubritsky. Upon arrest, he was found to be wearing an Interior Ministry ID card issued under a false name. Zubritsky himself told investigators that he was an investigative journalist and had nothing to do with the murder. He was allegedly investigating the production of the narcotic tramadol at the Farmak plant. And for this he was imprisoned.
Filya Zhebrovskaya
Nevertheless, the investigation, as the organizer of the assassination attempt, locked him up in Kyiv's notorious Lukyanivske pretrial detention center. From media reports, everyone knows that life in this facility is far from easy. But for a small fee, a leniency is possible. It's called a VIP cell. No, this isn't where Tymoshenko was held; she had a cell specially designed for her. But quite tolerable two-room apartments are given to bankers, businessmen—basically, anyone who can afford them.
Zubritsky and Maksimov apparently became friends in prison. So much so that TV channel 112 is now located in the former VAB Bank premises on Zoologicheskaya Street, which belongs to Maksimov.
Be that as it may, in 2012, with Zakharchenko's rise to power (what a coincidence), Zubritsky was released, and the case against him was dropped. He resumed his activities before prison – media and PR. The new young oligarchs from Donetsk, eager for power, desperately needed media assets. Arbuzov opened BTB and bought several newspapers, Kurchenko bought UMH and Evolution Media. Zakharchenko also needed his own media outlets, and he entrusted their management to Viktor Zubritsky. The Kontakt media center opened, but it was a completely uninteresting outfit, having done practically nothing. Far more interesting was a certain television company, V-TV, which produced the program "Ostanne poperedzhennia" (The Last Days) for UT-1. This program harshly criticized the opposition of the time. In fact, the police used it as a pretext to open criminal cases. The attacks on the opposition relied on classic police tactics, including bribery and hidden camera footage. Clearly, such a program would have been impossible to implement without police assistance and specialized equipment.
Channel 112 launched simultaneously with the Euromaidan (another coincidence). Channel 112's nominal owner is Olga Zubritskaya, the wife of Viktor Zubritsky and the sister of the figurehead chairman, Andrei Podshchipkov, mentioned at the beginning of this article. Zubritsky himself officially held the title of "creative producer" at the channel. But in reality, the channel belonged to Zakharchenko and Zubritsky. While Vitaly Zakharchenko was minister, the channel took a relatively lenient stance toward the police. However, this was presented as freedom of speech, which required showing viewers both sides of the conflict. The channel produced videos about the Berkut on the Maidan, portraying them as placid peacekeepers. Together with the "For Peace" foundation, organized by the opportunist Dmitry Nosikov, they worked on an event intended to attract special services veterans to the Maidan, who would supposedly stand between the Berkut and the people. There were several blatant set-ups of the Euromaidan self-defense forces aired live on the channel. However, it quickly became clear that Yanukovych was losing this battle, and the channel began playing at objectivity.
Immediately after the Revolution of Dignity, Zubritsky surfaced in schemes of Interior Minister Avakov ( read more about him: Arsen Avakov: the criminal past of the Interior Minister ). The new head of the Ukrainian police accused Viktor Zubritsky of organizing and coordinating squads of thugs, the so-called "titushki," who beat and provoked Euromaidan protesters. Minister Zakharchenko himself, the head of the Interior Ministry department, Pavel Zinov, and the Armenian authority in Ukraine, Armen Sargsyan , also figured in this scheme. However, this scheme never went further. Zubritsky apparently left Ukraine. In fact, not a single person involved in this "Avakov scheme" was ever detained. Viktor Zubritsky was allegedly placed on Interpol's wanted list. However, his name is currently missing from the wanted list.
Channel 112 continues to broadcast throughout Ukraine. Its ratings are growing, and it's the country's number one news channel, meaning it wields enormous influence over Ukrainians. For several years now, the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting has been trying in vain to extract the name of the channel's owner from 112's lawyers. So far, all the national regulator has been able to do is issue a few warnings and file a lawsuit against the channel, demanding the deprivation of several frequencies, but not its closure. So, it shouldn't be surprising that some of the most notorious figures from the Yanukovych era are attempting to return to Ukraine. They never left. At least, not from the media landscape.
Olga Kastornykh, for SKELET-info
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