Rivne police is investigating smear campaign against Chetverta Vlada

The police have launched an investigation into the smear campaign targeting the investigative journalism agency Chetverta Vlada, reported the Rivne Oblast and District Prosecutor's Offices in their responses to inquiries by the Institute of Mass Information.

In late 2024, the Rivne District Police Department initiated a pre-trial investigation into obstruction of reporting (Part 2, Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The Rivne District Prosecutor's Office clarified that the investigation had been initiated following the online release of the article "The Russian Orthodox Church abroad or the Job of Pochayiv parish – the little secret of the Torbichs, possible separatists".

“The actions of the unidentified author of the article are seen as influencing a journalist in order to prevent them from reporting,” the District Prosecutor's Office said in response to the IMI's inquiry.

As the IMI reported, the websites CRiME, News24 and Press Center, which claim to be news outlets, released identical, potentially commissioned articles titled "The Russian Orthodox Church abroad or the Job of Pochayiv parish – the little secret of the Torbichs, possible separatists" on October 31 and November 1, 2024.

Antonina and Volodymyr Torbich are a couple and co-editors of the investigative journalism agency Chetverta Vlada.

Screenshot of an article smearing Chetverta Vlada journalists from News 24

The articles are written as exposure and allege that Chetverta Vlada has ties to the Russian special services because the deputy editor Antonina Torbich shares a registration address with a Moscow Patriarchate congregation.

This allegation is false, as there is no data on the congregation in question being registered at the indicated address in any of the Ukrainian registers. In addition, Antonina Torbich told the IMI that she never lived at that address, either.

“Of course, I would like the police to find out who commissioned this article. Then we could check our hypothesis using our connection search tools. We could check our hypothesis on whether this person has ties to our city authorities, because we assume that this was the source of the surge in commissioned content about Chetverta Vlada's work. There are doubts that the police will be able to do this. We will see,” Antonina Torbich told the IMI in a comment.

As reported earlier, there were three more articles targeting Chetverta Vlada following this wave of mudslinging. In December 2024, unknown persons staged a (probably commissioned) rally in front of the Rivne City Court in order to discredit the media outlet's chief editor and his deputy.

The Chetverta Vlada team believes that the negative campaign was triggered by the release of an article criticizing Yana Yevtushok, the Rivne Council chief of communications. According to the investigators, representatives of the party / NGO Rivne Razom, founded by Viktor Shakyrzyan, the current acting mayor of Rivne, may also be involved in the smear campaign. The team also suggests that Viktor Shakyrzyan’s close aide and business partner, Roman Kurys, is involved in both the previous and more recent cases of defamation targeting the media outlet.