Journalist Yuriy Nikolov says someone tried to break into his apartment

Investigative journalist Yuriy Nikolov reported an attempt at intimidation: unknown men tried to break into his apartment on January 14. He wrote about it on Facebook.

According to him, these persons "were trying to break through the door, shouted that I should go serve in the army," and covered the door with paper notes.

Nikolov said that he himself was not at home, but his mother was, and the men's actions frightened her.

"So these freaks only scared my old mother, who lives with me after recovering from an oncological disease, because she has no one else: her second son is in Avdiivka, her adult grandson – fighting near Kupyansk," he wrote.

After that, Nikolov noted, the attackers posted a video of themselves trying to break into his home on the Telegram channel "Kartochny Ofis".

The journalist considers this incident to be an act of intimidation and noted that the ex-Minister of Defense, Oleksiy Reznikov, promised to open a case against him after his reporting on corruption schemes in military procurement.

"I don't even know which degenerate came up with an idea to intimidate a journalist. A year ago, Reznikov asked the SBU to open a case for undermining defense capabilities over my article on corruption in military procurement," Nikolov wrote.

He also added that in all interviews with Ukrainian and foreign media, he constantly said that this was the only instance of pressure that he faced during the invasion.

"But I see that someone decided to change this situation," Nikolov wrote.

Photo from the Telegram channel "Kartochny Ofis"

Photo from the Telegram channel "Kartochny Ofis"

Photo from the Telegram channel "Kartochny Ofis"

In a comment to the IMI Nikolov noted that he had not filed a statement to the police on this matter, but was in contact with the law enforcers. The initiative to look into the details of the incident came from the police.

"I am in contact with them. If there is any news, I will come out and announce it publicly. I'm not trying to hide anything. Now we are deciding what is the better and more appropriate way to go about it," Nikolov said.

When asked whether this provocation could be related to his criticism of the President on UP-CHAT a few weeks ago, when Nikolov called the President a "dodger", the journalist replied:

"An hour ago, a the Telegram channel 'Joker' posted the video with a caption noting that it 'serves Nikolov right for mouthing off about our President.' It seems that some person of limited intellectual capabilities decided to add some new colors to the scandal and hint that this is the revenge I get for criticizing the president. The fools did this to add some weight to the arguments of those who say that Ukraine has freedom of speech problems."

Yuriy said that the provocation went on for about half an hour, according to his mother. The men left, then came back and continued knocking on the door.

He himself could not come because he was too far away.

It should be noted that a provocative post about Yuri Nikolov was shared by the Telegram channels "Vertykal" and "Joker" at about the same time.

We remind you that Yuriy Nikolov exposes corruption in his materials. In particular, on January 21, 2023, his article about overpriced food for Ukrainian military personnel was released in "Dzerkalo Tyzhnia".

Following the article, the prices under the deals made by the Ministry of Defense were reduced in an amount that should save about 6 billion hryvnias per year. A bill was also passed to open procurement prices for non-weapon related military purchases up for better public scrutiny. The head of the Ministry of Defense department at the time, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, and the relevant deputy minister, Vyacheslav Shapovalov, were dismissed from their positions and are currently under investigation.