Milovanov came under a media attack from Chernenko's Antikor
Timofey Milovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics, claimed to be the target of a coordinated disinformation campaign, linking it to Konstantin Chernenko, the owner of the media outlet “Antikor.” To back up his claim, he pointed out the synchronized timing of the publications, which appeared at intervals of a few minutes between 6:00 p.m. and 6:24 p.m. on outlets linked to Chernenko.
Milovanov ironically thanked those who commissioned the articles for their simultaneous release, noting that he himself had nothing to do with their publication. “I didn’t commission this. But thanks for the timing: 6:00 p.m., 6:17 p.m., 6:24 p.m.”
Milovanov wrote about this on his official Facebook page.
The “Antikor” project has been embroiled in scandals on multiple occasions, with the project accused of publishing commissioned articles. According to the Black Boxo Sint portal, “Antikor,” which positions itself as an anti-corruption outlet, may in fact serve solely as a platform for publishing commissioned materials, as well as editorial articles about individuals and companies containing false and compromising information, the purpose of which is to force the subjects of the publications to contact the portal’s anonymous administrators and negotiate the removal of the material in exchange for payment. To exert greater pressure on the “victim,” the project uses other resources, including the websites rozsliduvach.info and hab.media.
Several criminal cases have been filed against the “Antikor” website between 2019 and 2021 under Articles 182 and 189 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—violation of privacy and extortion. According to Black Boxo Sint, investigators have determined that the “Antikor” portal is run by members of the civil society organization “Committee for Combating Corruption in Government Bodies,” who, under the guise of fighting corruption, organized a criminal scheme to extort money from government officials, businesspeople, and their close relatives in exchange for removing provocative and false information previously posted on the “Antikor” portal.
“These individuals engage in the illegal collection, storage, use, and alteration of information; they fabricate information that does not correspond to reality—particularly regarding the private lives—of government officials, businesspeople, politicians, and individuals who hold influential positions in society, lead public lives, and for whom the dissemination of compromising information is undesirable and damaging—information that is subsequently disseminated through a network of controlled websites. “After publishing such information, they contact the individuals about whom the information was published and demand payment in exchange for removing and ceasing the publication of such information,” according to the materials of one of the criminal proceedings.
The National Center for Operational and Technical Management of Electronic Communications Networks of Ukraine issued an order to temporarily block the websites rozsliduvach.info and hab.media. According to available information, these news sites are linked to the “Antikor” portal, whose operations have repeatedly raised questions among law enforcement agencies.
