Court dismisses Kryukova's demand for retraction of news calling her a "pro-Russian journalist, collaborator and traitor"

The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv dismissed the defamation lawsuit by Svitlana Kryukova, former deputy chief editor of Strana.ua, against the LLC Spetsialni Korespondenty, with demands to declare reported information unreliable and refute it, reports Sudovyi Reporter, citing the February 27, 2025 ruling.

Kryukova demanded to retract a news story released on July 10, 2024, which claimed that she was a “pro-Russian journalist, collaborator and traitor who is dividing society and working for the Russian Federation.” The unsigned article on the Spetsialni Korespondenty website was based on a Facebook post and the comments under it by serviceman Roman Sinitsyn (Balan). Sinitsyn proposed his readers to initiate a new petition for imposing targeted sanctions on Kryukova. Kryukova joined the discussion in the comments and Sinitsyn spoke rudely to her.

Svitlana Kryukova. Photo by Svitlana Kryukova on Facebook

The website also shared similar posts by blogger Ihor Lachenkov and lawyer Yevhen Pronin.

In her demands, Kryukova argued that she was a Ukrainian journalist whose reporting had a significant number of consumers. Kryukova’s personal Facebook page has about 40 thousand followers. According to the magazine Focus, she ranked 42nd in the "Ukraine's top-100 influential women" ranking for 2021. In May 2022, three months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, her husband enlisted in the Ukrainian army, leaving her with three children in Kyiv. Kryukova claims to be a target of a series of smear attacks continuing to this day, in particular by Ukrainian bloggers and journalists.

Having reviewed the disputed statement, the court ruled that the claim that “Kryukova is a pro-Russian journalist, collaborator, and traitor who divides society and works for the Russian Federation” is a value judgment and does not contain factual data. Value judgments cannot be refuted, so the court dismissed the claim.

This ruling was issued by judge Iryna Litvynova. The same judge is currently trying Kryukova’s claims against Sinitsyn (Balan), Lachenkov, and Pronin.

The Spetsialni Korespondenty website is owned by a limited liability company of the same name. The LLC was co-founded by Dmytro Piven and Ivanna Cherniy, lawyers from the Barristers Association. Kryukova is represented in court for defamation claims by lawyer Oleksiy Shevchuk, the association's former managing partner and now spokesperson.

The ruling can be appealed within 30 days.

Sanctions against Kryukova and Strana.ua

On January 19, 2025, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed into effect the National Security and Defense Council decision imposing sanctions on several persons including Svitlana Kryukova.

The media outlet Strana.ua is notorious for its anti-Ukraine propaganda and is under sanctions by the National Security and Defense Council (including a block on its domains and subdomains), as is the media outlet's chief editor Ihor Huzhva and persons associated with the two.

The Institute of Mass Information has collected previously published research findings related to the Strana website and evidence showing that this media outlet has always worked to discredit Ukraine.

On July 23, 2024, a petition asking for a total ban on the pro-Russian publication strana.ua and sanctions on several employees, including Svitlana Kryukova, was posted on the website of the President of Ukraine.

The petition gathered the necessary 25 thousand votes and is being considered by the President.

Ihor Lachenkov called on his followers to sign the petition.

In September 2024, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv dismissed the lawsuit filed by Svitlana Kryukova, a journalist for the sanctioned pro-Russian media outlet Strana.ua, against blogger and volunteer Ihor Lachenkov. Kryukova was also suing soldier and volunteer Roman Sinitsyn.