SBU claims uninvolvement in the attack on Nikolov

The Security Service of Ukraine claims that they were in no way involved in the attack on the apartment of journalist Yury Nikolov. The SBU press office said so in response to the information reported by Zhitomir.city on January 28, Detector Media writes.

"Any claims by individuals involved in the case, who said they were SBU employees or mentioned their supposed 'cooperation with the SBU', are a deliberate manipulation serving their own goals. The Security Service has nothing to do with this incident," says the special service's reply to the media outlet's request.

The press office also called the provocation against Yuriy Nikolov unacceptable.

"The SBU considers such targeting of journalists unacceptable, since independent media are an integral part of a modern democratic society. All the details of this incident are being looked into by the National Police investigators in accordance with their jurisdiction, a case has been opened under Part 2 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (preclusion of the legal professional activity of journalists)", the Security Service stressed.

The law enforcers also guaranteed their full assistance in the investigation within the limits of the current legislation and their function.

Yuriy Nikolov said that he passed the information published by Zhitomir.city to his lawyer. He noted that he cannot yet assess its credibility, adding that he considers it appropriate to look into a possible Russian involvement in the provocation against him.

As reported by the IMI, on January 28, Zhytomyr.city posted an address by two men on its YouTube channel. The men introduced themselves as Dmytro and Denys and claimed that an SBU employee named Oleksiy ordered them to attack journalist Yuriy Nikolov's apartment. According to Zhytomyr.city, the men decided that they had been used "for some weird game" and mustered the courage for an open video interview.

On January 26, 2024 Yuriy Nikolov reported that that the police released the five men who had tried to break into his apartment on January 15. On January 21 the police said they identified five people who tried to break into the apartment of investigative journalist Yury Nikolov.

As the IMI reported, on January 15, investigative journalist Yuriy Nikolov reported an attempt at intimidation: unknown men tried to break into his apartment on January 14, scaring his mother and neighbors, and left paper notes saying "draft dodger" and "traitor" on his door. After the incident, the Telegram channel "Kartochny Ofis" posted about it, claiming that it was military servicemen trying to deliver a draft notice to the journalist. A provocative post about Yuri Nikolov was shared by the Telegram channels "Vertykal" and "Joker" at about the same time. On January 15, the Telegram channel "Joker" posted the video of Nikolov's comment on President Volodymyr Zelensky and implied that the attack on the journalist's apartment was retaliation for his remark about the head of state.

On January 19, the police started a case over pressuring the investigative journalist Yury Nikolov to prevent him from performing his professional duties and persecuting the latter due to his reporting (Part 2 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).