Anonymous website keeps harassing the Kremenchuk-based journalist Bulashev

The "Kremenchutska Hazeta" (Poltava oblast) editor-in-chief, Oleh Bulashev, says that the anonymous website "Kremenchuk Today" continues to pressure him by posting offensive and discrediting content about his journalistic activity.

The journalist reported this to the IMI representative in Poltava, Nadiya Kucher.

On December 4, the website "Kremenchuk Today" published an article by Natalia Boyko, titled "Zhevago's media promote Putin lovers in Kremenchuk: the goal is to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the city authorities".

The article says that "media outlets funded by the fugitive pro-Russian oligarch Zhevago are doing everything to discredit military aid. They bring local 'vatniks' to patriotic public events and actively promote them. For instance, 'Kremenchutska Hazeta' published a video featuring the famous Putin lover, Kremenchuk-based blogger Alla Kovalchuk," adding that the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Bulashev, "also loves Putin", "publishes content defending the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate", "has published data pointing to an important target in Kremenchuk during an air raid alert", "is promoting a confidant of the traitor Kyva".

"Bulashev has been actively promoting the 'Russian world' and its fans in Kremenchuk for a while. His task is to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the volunteer movement, and the city authorities. Because of this, Bulashev has been watched by the SBU's for a long time, but has evaded arrest thanks to his connections in law enforcement agencies," writes "Kremenchuk Today".

Oleh Bulashev denied the allegations in his comment to the Poltava representative of the IMI. The journalist is now considering filing a complaint with the police and suing.

"There is no one to sue. There have already been lawsuits against this website, and none of them yielded any result because there is no defendant," Bulashev said.

The cyberbullying campaign targeting Oleh Bulashev has been going on for several years. As reported by the IMI, in 2019, the editor-in-chief of "Kremenchutska Hazeta" reported being harassed on social media. In the summer of 2023, the local website "Kremenchuk Today" accused Bulashev of working for the enemy. Bulashev called the materials "false and nonsensical." So, on July 26, the website published the article "Why is pseudo-journalist Bulashev still not arrested for working for the enemy?" It alleges that Bulashev has "always been a supporter of the concept of the 'Russian world'" and "posts content in defense of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate. He is a freelance press secretary of Metropolitan Nikolay of the Kremenchuk Diocese of the UOC MP and has participated in the preparation of pro-Russian church publications."

The website also provides examples of Bulashev supposedly disclosing information about important targets in Kremenchuk. Among other accusations, they claim Bulashev was the press secretary of the "Party of Regions" for many years, and had the same position in the OPFL since 2014; that he ran the press center of Yanukovych's HQ in Kremenchuk during the 2004 and 2009 elections, and also worked at the Party of Regions/OPFL headquarters during elections to the Verkhovna Rada and the local council from 2006 to 2020. In his comment to the Poltava representative of the IMI, Oleh Bulashev called all the accusations brought up by the website completely delusional.

The IMI also reported that the confrontation between "Kremenchuk Today" and "Kremenchukska Hazeta" has been going on for a long time; there have been appeals to the Independent Media Council and the Mediacheck. The independent media examination indicated violations of the Ukrainian Journalist's Code of Ethics by both websites.