Wikipedia

Roman Kravets

Roman Oleksandrovych Kravets (Ukrainian: Роман Олександрович Кравець; born 8 July 1994, Kherson) is a Ukrainian pro-Russian blogger,[1][2][3][4] propagandist[5] and racketeer.[6] He is the owner and chief administrator of the Joker (Ukrainian: Джокер) Telegram channel[5][7] and a member of the Servant of the People party.[8]

Roman Kravets
Born
Roman Oleksandrovych Kravets

(1994-07-08) July 8, 1994 (age 30)
Kherson, Ukraine

According to the Security Service of Ukraine, Roman Kravets's Telegram channel Joker is engaged in anti-Ukrainian and State propaganda in the Russian Federation.[2][3][4] From the first days of the channel's existence, Joker was promoted by pro-Russian propagandist Anatoliy Shariy,[9] the pro-Russian online publication Strana.ua and the now closed NewsOne[10] TV channel, which is linked to pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk.[10]

A number of Ukrainian media outlets, journalists, and politicians call Kravets a “media killer” and describe his activities as “racketeering” and “blackmail”.[6] He is the subject of a number of journalistic investigations, where he is accused of discrediting, threatening and extorting money from Ukrainian businesses.[11][12]

Early life

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He was born on 8 July 1994 in Kherson.[5]

His father, Kravets Oleksandr Mykhailovych, born in 1958,[13] is from Russia, Magadan Oblast, Susumansky District, Velikiy Khatinnykh village. Oleksandr Kravets, twice convicted. First convicted for rape in 1984 (released on parole in 1990). Imprisoned for the second time for extortion, in the early 2000s.[13]

Education

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He graduated from Kherson Polytechnic College of Odesa National Polytechnic University with a degree in engineering technology.[8]

Early career

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He worked on a voluntary basis as the executive director of the Dnipro Regional Youth Council and as the deputy director of information technology and security at SSL Consulting.[8]

According to Hromadske journalists, in 2015 he helped businessman Hennadii Korban, who was running for the Verkhovna Rada in the 205th constituency (Chernihiv).[5][8]

During the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election, Kravets already had certain connections among high-ranking officials.[5] In particular, he developed a friendly relationship with Andriy Bohdan, who was then a lawyer for influential people and later became the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.[5] An investigation by Hromadske journalists says that Bohdan was responsible for filling the lists of the Servant of the People party and "choosing people for the last few vacancies on the list, Andriy Bohdan simply flipped through his phone book", where he stopped at Roman Kravets, whom he invited to the list with the number 153.[5] Kravets was not elected to the Verkhovna Rada.[8]

Telegram channel

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The information that Roman Kravets is the owner and chief administrator of the Joker channel first appeared in an investigation by Forbes, citing its own sources in the Office of the President of Ukraine and the Bureau of Economic Security (BES).[11]

In a commentary to Hromadske, Roman Kravets confirmed that Joker was his Telegram channel, but he allegedly sold it two years ago.[5] However, Kravets does not name the new owner and does not provide any documents confirming the fact of sale.[5]

Media activities

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According to the Security Service of Ukraine, Roman Kravets's Telegram channel Joker is engaged in anti-Ukrainian and State propaganda in the Russian Federation.[2][3][4] On 2 September 2022, the co-chair of the European Solidarity faction, Iryna Herashchenko, published the SSU's response to a deputy's appeal regarding the activities of pro-Russian destructive Telegram channels.[2] The Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Malyuk, confirmed that "Joker and other Telegram channels have repeatedly come to the attention of the special service as being used by unidentified persons to carry out destructive information activities to the detriment of the state security of Ukraine".[4] The fact that Joker was administered by Roman Kravets became known only in 2024.[5] According to the Security Service of Ukraine, Joker and other pro-Russian Telegram channels are coordinated by the Main Centre of the Special Service of the General Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.[3] Russia uses such communication channels to carry out special information and psychological operations in the interests of Russians.[3] In order to disguise their activities, pro-Russian channels often disseminate content from Ukrainian special services.[3] For example, they publish official messages of the SSU press service, video and photo materials from the official telegram channel of the Service and the information pages of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine.[3] According to the Ukrainian media, during the full-scale invasion, Kravets spent almost two months in Kherson, which was occupied by Russian forces at the time.[1]

From the first days of its existence, the Telegram channel Joker was promoted by pro-Russian propagandist Anatoliy Shariy, the pro-Russian online publication Strana.ua and the now-closed NewsOne TV channel,[10] which is linked to pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk. Kravets did not hide his sympathies for the now-banned in Ukraine pro-Russian Party of Shariy,[9] and reposted YouTube videos of the suspected high treason propagandist Anatoliy Shariy.[14]

One of Roman Kravets's first major sponsors was Vadym Stolar, a member of parliament from Viktor Medvedchuk's banned party Opposition Platform — For Life, the pro-Russian politician.[13]

According to a Hromadske source, Roman Kravets communicates with the Office of the President of Ukraine, calls Davyd Arakhamia his "closest friend", and his channel has posted materials by the OP employees.[15] In the past, David Arakhamia stated that he did not know the "Joker", but respected him and "wants to give him a bottle of whiskey".[16] Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office Mykhailo Podolyak stated that the OP does not control Telegram channels, but according to an investigation by Hromadske, Kravets was "actively assisted and facilitated by some current and former politicians and special services officers".[17] The interlocutors say that "the motives of each of them are different. Some of them have reasons for not being touched, while others have purely mercantile ones. This is the way to create nightmares for business with the obvious purpose of creating media problems and helping to solve them".[15] According to the source, businessmen, employees of the Presidential Office, and even heads of the Presidential Administration under Viktor Yanukovych posted paid-for materials on Roman Kravets' channel.[15]

In 2023, Roman Kravets worked for the scandalous MP Mykola Tyshchenko, using Joker to accompany his raider attacks on call centres.[13]

Attacks on journalists

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Using the Telegram channel Joker, Roman Kravets participates in media attacks against Ukrainian journalists.[18][19]

In June 2023, he began attacks on Censor.net, its journalists and personally its editor-in-chief Yuriy Butusov.[20][21][22][23][24][25]

In September 2023, Kravets took part in a media attack on the independent anti-corruption centre NGL.media.[18]

In November 2023, Detector Media and the Institute of Mass Information reported pressure and obstruction of journalistic activity in connection with an organised campaign of fakes and smear campaigns launched against the two organisations by a group of anonymous Telegram channels, including Roman Kravets's Joker.[19] The discrediting campaign against the journalists began in the form of accusations of allegedly paying a Russian entity for services to research Telegram channels. In fact, the Telegram channel research service TgStat.com has a free version that was used by the Institute of Mass Information to research Russian disinformation and fakes in Telegram channels.[26] No payments were made to the subjects of the Russian Federation. Ukrainian journalists and media organisations, members of the Media Movement, called on law enforcement agencies to identify those involved in organising the media attack on Detector Media and bring them to justice.[27] The EU Delegation to Ukraine condemned the attack by Joker and other anonymous Telegram channels on Detector Media and IMI, with a response posted on the Delegation's official Facebook page.[28]

Attacks on anti-corruption activists

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Using the Telegram channel Joker, Roman Kravets is conducting a campaign to discredit anti-corruption activists as such and specifically the Anti-Corruption Action Center and its head Vitaliy Shabunin.[29] In particular, Joker calls anti-corruption activists "part of the system of corrupt officials",[30] discredits the whistleblowers of the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Oleh Tatarov.[31][32] In his posts, Kravets publishes fake news against Vitaliy Shabunin,[33][34][35][36] and also negatively comments and humiliates Daria Kaleniuk, an employee of the Anti-Corruption Action Centre.[37][38]

According to Vitaliy Shabunin, he and his partners are seeking to clean up the Bureau of Economic Security, and will then move on to "schemes" at customs and tax authorities. In his opinion, these investigations may be the reason for the discrediting of the civil society sector.[29]

Attacks against the opposition

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One of the constant targets of Roman Kravets's media attacks is the leader of the opposition party of Ukraine European Solidarity, the fifth President Petro Poroshenko and MPs from his faction.[39] In particular, the Joker spread fakes about Poroshenko allegedly organising a "new Maidan", a "coup", and "disrupting mobilisation"[54]. Roman Kravets also spread disinformation about the EU Member of Parliament Viktoria Siumar, writing that she "supervises information attacks against Volodymyr Zelenskyy"[40] and "is the author of the conflict between Zelenskyi and Zaluzhnyi" in the media space.[41]

Sanctions

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United States

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On 28 August 2024, it was reported that the tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI) was preparing an official appeal to the Cabinet of the United States through United States congressmen to impose personal sanctions on the owner of the Telegram channel Joker, Roman Kravets, and several civil servants, politicians and security officials "involved in a scheme to raid the company and systematically impede business activities and defame the long-standing reputation of the international company."[42]

Investigations

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Roman Kravets has been the subject of a number of journalistic investigations, where he is accused of discrediting, threatening and extorting money from Ukrainian business representatives.[11][12] In March 2024, Forbes published an investigation into media attacks by the anonymous Telegram channel Joker on the Ukrainian ridesharing service Uklon,[11] and journalists first reported that Roman Kravets was the owner and chief administrator of Joker.[43]

Racketeering

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According to the investigation, Roman Kravets's main income comes from media attacks on Ukrainian businesses through the Telegram channel Joker.[12] Kravets lists the price for his "information services" on his channel: advertising — from $47,500, stopping publications on certain topics — from $389,000; deletion of information — from $236,000.[12] The last public racketeering story was about Uklon, and the Joker mentioned the taxi service in his posts more than 320 times.[11] Also, the heroes of dozens of accusatory publications were such Ukrainian companies as Cosmolot, Favbet, Vbet, Fondy, Citrus, Stylus, TechnoYizhak and others.[12][43]

Unlike other companies that have been attacked by Roman Kravets in the media, Uklon is the first company to bring the case to the public domain.[11] On 11 March 2024, Uklon CEO Serhiy Hryshkov published the company's position, in which he called the actions of the anonymous Telegram channel a "disinformation attack" and "digital terrorism".[44] The company has also written a request to the Bureau of Economic Security asking it not to take unauthorised actions and to investigate the situation. The company requested the Prosecutor General's Office to check the existence of criminal proceedings and "deal with the situation".[11][44] Uklon co-founder Dmytro Dubrovsky said that the company "was demanded $200,000, but they decided not to pay and stopped communicating".[11] According to him, the offer came through an intermediary — an acquaintance of another co-founder of the company, Serhiy Smus.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b Vasyl Prokopenko (2024-08-12). "Слуга народу (Джокер) Кравець, партнер Шарія та Медведчука залишається безкарним". censor.net. Censor.net.
  2. ^ a b c d "СБУ підтвердила діяльність проросійських ТГ-каналів, серед яких «Тайны депутата», «Джокер» і «Шептун» – Геращенко". prm.ua. Priamyi. 2022-09-02.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Dmytro Romanov (2023-03-27). "Кремлівські телеграм-канали "Джокер", "Резидент" та інші поширюють контент СБУ задля маскування своєї проросійської діяльності". telegraf.com.ua. Telegraf.
  4. ^ a b c d "СБУ не в змозі встановити власників пропагандистських телеграм-каналів та заблокувати їх". mezha.net. Mezha.net. 2022-09-02.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Yaroslava Volvach (2024-06-24). "«Джокер» — Єрмака? Хто стоїть за неопропагандою Офісу президента". hromadske.ua (in Ukrainian). Hromadske.
  6. ^ a b "Бутусов: Влада руками Джокера займається рекетом" (in Ukrainian). Espreso TV. 2024-06-01.
  7. ^ "Як власник тг-каналу "Джокер" розганяє "зраду" про мобілізацію і невиїзд, а сам розкошує і їздить за кордон, — розслідування". texty.org.ua (in Ukrainian). Texty.org.ua. 2024-06-24.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Кравець Роман Олександрович". chesho.org. Chesno.
  9. ^ a b Yuliana Skibitska, Rita Dudina, Mariia Zhartovska (2019-11-06). "Тиждень «пранкер Джокер» листується з депутатами від імені генерального прокурора. Ми з ним поговорили і пояснюємо, що відбувається". babel.ua. Babel.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ a b c Valeriia Buniak (2024-03-31). "Адміністратором анонімного телеграм-каналу «Джокер» може бути член партії «Слуга народу» Роман Кравець, — Forbes". detector.media. Detector media.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liuba Balashova, Ira Krytska, Borys Davydenko (2024-03-27). "$200 000 за мовчання. Яка мета медіаатаки анонімного Тelegram-каналу на Uklon, чи спрацювала стратегія захисту бізнесу і хто стоїть за каналом". forbes.ua (in Ukrainian). Forbes.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ a b c d e "«Ти знаєш, звідки в мене номер президента?» Деанонімізація «Джокера»" (in Ukrainian). Hromadske. 2024-06-24.
  13. ^ a b c d "Хто "мочить" "Джокера"? Кому перейшов дорогу Роман Кравець?". 2024-07-02.
  14. ^ Roman Kravets (2020-10-22). "После видео Анатолия Шария, слуга педофил начал удалять свои страницы из социальных сетей". Joker.
  15. ^ a b c Roman Melnyk (2024-06-24). "hromadske: Власник телеграм-каналу «Джокер» комунікує з Офісом президента". detector.media. Detector media.
  16. ^ "Арахамія про пранкера Джокера: У мене є гіпотеза, що це людина, яка має стосунок до "Слуги народу"". gordonua.com. Gordon. 2020-02-12.
  17. ^ Yaroslava Volvach (2024-06-24). "«"Джокеру" сприяють окремі політики й співробітники спецслужб»: хто стоїть за Telegram-каналом". hromadske.ua. Hromadske.
  18. ^ a b Oleksandr Miasyshchev, Yuliana Skibitska, Dmytro Rayevskyi, Katerina Kobernik (2024-01-18). "За Bihus.Іnfo таємно стежили, а в квартиру до журналіста Юрія Ніколова ломились невідомі. «Бабель» розповідає, як медійні помийки й анонімні Telegram-канали атакують журналістів". babel.ua. Babel.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ a b "«ДМ» та ІМІ заявляють про організовану кампанію фейків і тиску з боку анонімних телеграм-каналів". detector.media. Detector media. 2023-11-28.
  20. ^ Роман Кравець (2024-07-07). "Все прекрасно знали уже как несколько лет, что брат Михаила Подоляка в россии, а сам Подоляк это никогда не скрывал и комментировал". Джокер.
  21. ^ Роман Кравець (2024-07-17). "Знакомьтесь самовлюбленное животное Юра Бутусов". Джокер.
  22. ^ Роман Кравець (2024-07-18). "Вот он боец пятой штурмовой фейсбук войск". Джокер.
  23. ^ Роман Кравець (2024-07-17). "Вот на скрине вы можете лицезреть просмотры одного из самых влиятельных СМИ в Украине". Джокер.
  24. ^ Роман Кравець (2024-07-17). "Никто из членов семьи самовлюбленного продажного журналиста Юрия Бутусова не проходит службу в ЗСУ". Джокер.
  25. ^ Роман Кравець (2024-07-31). "9 лет собирает деньги с политиков на свой помойный сайт цензорнет". Джокер.
  26. ^ Yana Mashkova (2023-10-14). "Джинса і маніпуляції. Як заробляють українські телеграм-канали з мільйонними аудиторіями?". detector.media. Detector media.
  27. ^ "Медіарух закликає правоохоронні органи встановити причетних до тиску на «Детектор медіа» та притягти їх до відповідальності". detector.media. Detector media. 2023-11-30.
  28. ^ Valeriia Buniak (2023-11-29). "Представництво ЄС в Україні засудило атаку анонімних телеграм-каналів на «Детектор медіа» та ІМІ". detector.media. Detector media.
  29. ^ a b "Шабунін заявив про чергову хвилю дискредитації антикорупційного сектору". zmina.info. 2024-03-04.
  30. ^ Roman Kravets (2024-01-21). "Хм, очень интересно, всего 15% доверяют антикорупционерам". Joker.
  31. ^ Roman Kravets (2024-02-12). "А никто не знает, где этот дурачок вечно бегающий и кричащий Татаров Татаров Татаров, ну Шабунин". Joker.
  32. ^ Roman Kravets (2024-02-06). "Смотря, что творят фейковые «журналисты» шабунята ради хайпа и оппозиция". Joker.
  33. ^ Roman Kravets (2024-03-03). "Обратили внимание, что никто из этих якобы антикоррупционеров не пошел воевать ?". Joker.
  34. ^ Roman Kravets (2024-03-16). "Виталя Шабунин второй год штурмует Киевские рестораны". Joker.
  35. ^ Roman Kravets (2024-04-09). "У нас про элиту говорят, а про антикорупционера Шабунина который в центре Киева в ресторанах воюет или алкоголика Юрия Николова говорить не принято". Joker.
  36. ^ Roman Kravets (2024-06-11). "Вчера целый день Шабунин, Николов, НВ рассказывали, что все форум по восстановлению сорвали, денег нет, на форуме никого не будет, все пропало". Joker.
  37. ^ Roman Kravets (2024-02-07). "Сегодня любовница Шабунина Даша Каленюк написала очень умный пост, ну как умный, снова советовала и давала советы Президенту". Joker.
  38. ^ Roman Kravets (2024-04-19). "Трогать антикорупционеров нельзя, они святые и честные люди". Joker.
  39. ^ "Провладний медіакілер «Джокер» паплюжить антикорупціонерів, журналістів і опозиційних політиків". prm.ua. Priamyi. 2024-06-25.
  40. ^ Iryna Herashchenko (2023-12-26). "Візитівка кварталівської влади". censor.net. Censor.net.
  41. ^ Roman Kravets (2023-11-28). "У Владимира Зеленского нет конфликта с Валерием Залужным". Джокер.
  42. ^ Ivan Boyko (2024-08-28). "Проти адміністратора каналу "Джокер" Романа Кравця готують персональні санкції у США, - Мосійчук". unian.ua. UNIAN.
  43. ^ a b "Стало відомо, хто веде анонімний телеграм-канал «Джокер», що атакує українські компанії". texty.org.ua. Texty.org.ua. 2024-03-28.
  44. ^ a b Serhiy Hryshkov (2024-03-11). "Останні кілька тижнів на нашу компанію безупинно ллється потік брехні і бруду з анонімного каналу Джокер".
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