Two media outlets have exposed the owner of a Telegram channel whom the police had notified of suspicion of takedown extortionism on 26 August. The man is Stanislav Rechynskyi, chief editor of the website and Telegram channel ORD, who lives in Berlin, Germany, Ukrainska Pravda and Babel reported, citing their own sources within law enforcement.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the investigators suspect him and a group of other persons of devising and carrying out a scheme wherein they posted false and defamatory content about individuals and entities to the outlet’s website and Telegram channel, causing substantial harm to the victims’ honour, dignity, and business reputation. They would then pressure the victims into paying money for taking the content down and stopping further distribution of such content.
One of the episodes under investigation by Ukrainian police concerns a series of posts made on 20 May 2026 regarding a leading Ukrainian security company and its CEO.
According to the case files, a representative of the injured party was told in an email conversation to pay 3,500 USDT in exchange for having the posts deleted.
The representative of the victim then transferred the sum to a cryptocurrency wallet which, according to the pre-trial investigation, is linked to the suspect.
Once the money arrived, the posts in question were taken down from the Telegram channel and the website.
During the investigation, the police established that Rechynskyi was a Ukrainian citizen living in Berlin, where he had been granted temporary protection as a refugee. The Ukrainian side approached the German authorities in order to properly serve him the suspicion notice and ensure the suspect’s procedural rights.
According to the German police, the man has lived in Germany since April 2022, holding a residence permit under § 24 of Germany’s Residence Act (AufenthG), which provides for temporary protection for Ukrainian citizens, since July 2022.
Rechynskyi’s place of residence in Berlin was searched on 26 August. The German law enforcers sought electronic devices, documents, information carriers, and other potential evidence.
Ukrainian law enforcement is working to identify all possible accomplices, their respective roles, and any other potential episodes of unlawful activity.