A Ukrainian journalist is researching a corruption case at the domestic secret service SBU. Shortly afterwards he was to be drafted into the army. An accident? It is not the first case of this kind.
It is a massive suspicion that Jevhenij Schulhat expresses. The journalist is convinced that he should have been drafted into the Ukrainian army because he uncovered a case of corruption. Schulhat has been working for the investigative platform “Slidstvo.Info” for years. The focus of his latest research is the head of the SBU cyber security department, Ilya Vityuk.
Vityuk owns real estate worth several hundred thousand euros. Sums that far exceed the salaries of a Ukrainian civil servant. The luxury apartments are registered in the names of his mother and his wife – presumably to conceal their true ownership.
Sudden convocation
Schulhat remembers the beginning of his research: Vityuk submitted his tax return for 2023 and it was passed on to him. And the consequences of this explosive research were serious. Shortly after the official request to the domestic secret service SBU, an attempt was suddenly made to draft the journalist into the military. “After we sent the research request to the SBU, people in military uniform came up to me and wanted to hand me a draft notice,” reports Schulhat.
All of this happened while the journalist was shopping in a Kiev supermarket. Surveillance camera footage shows three men approaching Schulhat. Two of them are wearing military uniforms, the third is in civilian clothes and is on the phone. This man keeps his distance from the uniformed men, as if he doesn’t belong there. Schulhat films the situation with his cell phone. The men know his name and know exactly who he is. “How do you know my name?” he asks the men. “Your documents are at the military commissariat,” they answer.
The secret service is filming
The men in uniform are from the Military Commissariat, the Ukrainian agency responsible for conscripting men. It later turns out that the man in civilian clothes is an employee of the SBU, the secret service that the journalist wanted to report on. At this point, he is about to go public about the alleged corruption case.
“In the middle of a war, the secret service does not use its resources to fight the aggressor, but instead persecutes journalists who are researching the assets of high-ranking officials,” says Schulhat. So are draft notices used as revenge for unwanted research? Kateryna Djatschuk from the Institute for Mass Media in Kiev sees this as a system.
The media researcher is observing a trend in which investigative journalists who write about corruption are being put under pressure. She is convinced that in some cases the government is using this as a repressive tool. Dyachuk recalls a scandal that triggered a wave of outrage just a few months ago. Journalists from the investigative platform “Bihus.info” were spied on with hidden cameras and their cell phones were tapped.
Like Schulhat, the online medium “Bihus.Info” also specializes in corruption and nepotism and, among other things, researches cases within the authorities. The “Bihus.Info” team is also being targeted by the Ukrainian domestic secret service SBU, as they were able to prove in extensive research.
A remnant of the Soviet mentality?
Allowing journalists to be persecuted for unwelcome research – this reminds Anton Hrushetskij of the Kiev International Institute of Sociology of times long past. He sees the intimidation attempts as a remnant of the Soviet mentality. “Unfortunately, there are people in some positions who still allow themselves to do something like that. But the SBU’s reaction shows that there is a civil society and that its will is not ignored by the government,” explains the sociologist.
The SBU responded to public pressure through Schulhat’s research. The allegedly corrupt top official with the luxury apartments was suspended and sent to the front, according to a statement. The SBU is available for an interview upon request ARD not ready.
A topic that remains
Schulhat will continue to report on corruption in his country. Regarding the intimidation attempt, he says: “This proves that we did everything right when we published this research.”
Schulhat criticizes that the fact that the allegedly corrupt official was simply suspended and sent to the front is wrong. War should not be used as an excuse – not to intimidate journalists and not to protect officials from proceedings.
Lena Crohmal, ARD Kiev, tagesschau, April 18, 2024 5:31 p.m