Kremenchutska Hazeta chief editor files police statement on harrassment

Kremenchutska Hazeta (Poltava oblast) chief editor Oleh Bulashev filed a statement with the police on December 10, saying that the media outlet Kremenchuk Today and the TV channel Kremenchuk, as well as Facebook user Lazor Lesnin, threaten his health and life due to his reporting.

The journalist reported this to Nadia Kucher, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Poltava oblast.

According to Bulashev, there are rumors and unverified information shared around about him.

“Recently, my life and health have been threatened by a group of people, some of whom are most likely fictitious, and some work at the Kremenchuk Municipal Television Company (“Kremenchuk” – author’s note). They smear my name, fail to check rumors, report unverified information on air and post it on social media," he said.

Photo by Oleh Bulashev on Facebook

Oleh Bulashev cited a Facebook post by user Lazor Lesnin, which, he added, contains false information about him. The post reads: "I have learned something I have no right to keep silent about. In 2021, an underage boy was sexually assaulted at an LGBT party in Odesa. The parents complained to the police, but it was hushed up. It is reported that a Poltava oblast journalist Oleh B. was present at the party. And apparently it was he who, through acquaintances in the police, asked not to proceed with the case. I am checking the information. When I receive confirmation, I will publish everything, including the journalist's name."

The Lazor Lesnin page also has a post alleging the "journalist Oleh B. attended an LGBT party where actions against an underage boy were committed."

Oleg Bulashev calls the posts an outright lie and adds that journalists from the Kremenchuk municipal TV channel “Kremenchuk” joined in spreading fabricated defamatory information about him.

“In early December, they aired a story titled 'Who is behind the cyberbullying and political persecution of the deputy mayor Olha Usanova.' Then came the story 'How Kremenchukska Hazeta whitewashes their people while groundlessly accusing others.' And the media outlet Kremenchuk Today published an article titled: 'Underage sex scandal: mysteries of the Odesa voyage of Zhevago's journalist Bulashev.' These publications were followed by deat threats and intimidation, with unknown passersby intimidating me right in the street,” Bulashev said.

The journalist called the reports a clearly pre-planned mass attack on him and noted that his well-being had significantly deteriorated over the past month.

“I feel very unwell now, but I am well aware that their criminal plan was aimed at taking my life through verbal bullying,” the journalist says. He adds that he considers such content about him to be obstruction of legal professional work of journalists.

In 2023, Oleh Bulashev reported that an unknown man had threatened to "drown him in concrete." He also claimed that the anonymous website Kremenchuk Today was pressuring him by publishing offensive and defamatory content about his journalistic work.

On January 18, 2024, the Kremenchuk police reported that they were investigating the local anonymous news website Kremenchuk Today. In the summer of 2023 "Kremenchuk Today" accused Kremenchutska Hazeta chief editor Oleh Bulashev of working for the enemy. Bulashev called the reports "lies and nonsense."

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 showed violations of the Ukrainian Journalist's Code of Ethics by both websites.