Anatoly Shariy

Anatoly Anatoliyevich Shariy[nb 1] (Ukrainian: Анатолій Анатолійович Шарій, Russian: Анато́лий Анато́льевич Шари́й; born August 20, 1978) is a Ukrainian videoblogger and politician. Ukrainian media commonly refers to him as “pro-Russian”, "Putin-sucker" and “anti-Ukrainian”, as he really is.

Following his cremlin propaganda work, he received death threats.[4] In 2012 he received asylum in the European Union, asserting prosecution by Ukrainian law enforcement bodies related to his blogger.[5][6][7]

He became a critic of Euromaidan and the subsequent governments. Sharko considers the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War to be an internal conflict and a civil war inside Ukraine, although he does not deny the Russian involvement in the conflict.[8] He claims to consider Crimea, as well as Donetsk and Lugansk areas to be part of Ukraine,[citation needed] however during the 2020 local election campaign, the Party of Shariy distributed campaign materials with a map of Ukraine without Crimea.[9][10]

In June 2019, he launched the Party of Shariy (Ukrainian: Партiя Шарiя), which took part in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. During the 2020 local elections, the party candidates entered several city and oblast councils.[11]

In February 2021, Shariy was accused of treason and incitement to ethnic or racial hatred by the Security Service of Ukraine.[12][13] He claims these accusations are legitimate and were not politically motivated and thanks president Volodymyr Zelensky to be the initiator of this action.

Biography

Shariy was born in Kyiv and lived there until 2012.[15] For several years he suffered from compulsive gambling.[16] Shariy began to engage in journalism in early 2005.[17]

In 2012 he was granted asylum in the European Union, asserting prosecution by Ukrainian law enforcement bodies related to his journalist work.[18][19][20] He received a permanent residency permit in Lithuania for 5 years.[21]

Shariy's first wife was Olga Rabulets, who, he says, saved him from compulsive gambling.[22] In 2013 Shariy became engaged to journalist Olga Bondarenko (now Olga Shariy [ru]). Married as of 2017,[23] and now they have a child.[citation needed] Olga Shariy, together with Anatoly, co-manages the Sharij.net website.[24]

Journalism and video blogging

Shariy began to engage in journalism in early 2005.[17] In 2008, Shariy became a permanent author at the online editions of From-UA and Obozrevatel,[25] From 2008 to early 2012 he was the head of the Investigation Department of the website Obozrevatel.[25]

In 2008–2011 Shariy authored a number of publications on organized crime in Ukraine, see section Notable investigations and incidents for some.

From 2014 onwards, while living in European Union, Shariy focused on producing video blogs for his YouTube channel, which, among other things carried out debunking misinformation and propaganda in Ukrainian media. He frequently criticizes Ukrainian publications related to the events in Ukraine after Euromaidan, as well as the Ukrainian governments, usually in a derisive and insulting way.[26]

Shariy is among the 48 authors of the 2018 book of memoirs Oles Buzina. Prophet and Martyr ("Олесь Бузина. Пророк и мученик"),[27] banned in Ukraine.[28]

Notable investigations and incidents

In December 2006 he wrote the article "Why the Baby Sleeps" ("Почему спит ребенок") about the abuse of babies by professional beggars in Kyiv: they sleep because they are sedated by illegal drugs or vodka.[29]

Shariy's vs. the Ukrainian law enforcement and Shariy's asylum

Shariy sought and received the asylum in the European Union, claiming persecution by the Ukrainian law enforcement for his journalist activities, basing on the following incidents.[30]

In 2011 Shariy shot at a man from a gun with rubber bullets at a McDonald's restaurant after the man, according to Shariy, insulted his wife. [18][31] Sharij reported the incident to police.[32] Shariy later claimed that the case was later trumped-up due to his investigation of illegal drug trade, which he alleged was covered up by high rank members of Ukrainian law enforcement.[33]

In 2011, the journalists of the 1+1 TV channel and Shariy carried out a series of investigations of the alleged protection of the illegal controlled substance trade in Kyiv pharmacies by the Office for Combating Illegal Drug Trafficking (Ukrainian abbreviation: UBNON).[34] On June 7, 2011, Shariy published the first part of the article "Does UBNON Spit in the Face of the Minister?". On June 11, Shariy was summoned for interrogation in the McDonald's shooting case, which had allegedly been closed already. On June 20, Shariy gave a press conference about the situation and claimed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and UBNON ordered the pressure on him. The next day, June 21, the criminal case for hooliganism was initiated against Shariy related to McDonald's shooting.[35]

Next month Shariy and the journalists of the "1+1" TV channel issued several publications alleging the involvement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in covering up illegal casinos in Kyiv. On July 12, 2011, Shariy and the film crew of the "1+1" channel were locked on the casino premises. Shortly thereafter criminal investigators arrived and seized 34 slot machines and video recordings of the hall, resulting in a criminal case on gambling business.[36][37]A few hours after the incident in the casino, a shot was fired at Shariy's car, but the journalist was not injured.[36] In August 2011, a criminal case on an attempted assassination was opened.[38][39][40] The car shooting incident was cited as an example of attacks on journalists in the Human Rights Watch report for year 2011.[41]

After the attempted murder Shariy continued his journalistic activities. On September 21, 2011, after another publication exposing corruption in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the case on the assassination attempt on Shariy was closed, and a criminal case was initiated against the journalist himself for "staging an assassination attempt".[35]

After being placed on the all-Ukrainian wanted list, Shariy left the country and asked for political asylum in the European Union. In 2012 he was granted asylum and received a permanent residency permit in Lithuania for 5 years.[21] In May 2021, Lithuania revoked the political asylum for Shariy and declared him to be a persona non grata. Shariy currently lives in Spain.[42]

Marushinets incident

In May 2018 in a series of videos Shariy reported anti-Semitic and other racist posts by Ukrainian consul in Hamburg Vasyl Marushinets (Василь Марушинець) in his Facebook page. Ukrainian officials claimed that they did not know anything about Marushinets views. Shariy proved that this cannot be true, because a number of posts of this type were "liked" by Ukrainian diplomats, and that Marushinets posted his views not only in the privacy of Facebook, but in open forums as well.[43] The subsequent scandal led to the recall of Marushinets "for disciplinary proceedings",[44][45][46] and on May 30, 2018, he was fired.[47] In December 2019 he was restored citing violations of the formal procedure and was paid for losses of about $9,000.[48]

Political views and activism

Shariy's position on Russia-Ukraine war

Shariy refers to the War in Donbass as "internal conflict" and "civil war", while not denying the presence of Russian military in the area.[49]

He considers the separatist Donetsk and Lugansk areas to be the territories of Ukraine[50] and the Russian annexation of Crimea to be inadmissible.[51][52]

Criticism of Poroshenko and his presidency

In December 2018, Anatoly Shariy offered UAH 15,000 to anyone who asks Poroshenko about the reasons for the persecution of blogger Shariy. In early 2019 in many cities of Ukraine this question was asked during meetings with the president. In a number of cases, there was an inadequate reaction of the president and his guards to this: the president's bodyguards knocked the phones out of the hands of the questioners, "the SBU officers beat the brave ones, and the president himself tore off their caps", slapped in the face and pinched those who voiced question.[53]

When in late February – early March 2019, journalists from website bihus.info published the correspondence of Ukroboronprom leaders who were engaged in money laundering on parts for military equipment purchased in Russia, Anatoly Shariy presented evidence that President Petro Poroshenko's company "Leninskaya Kuznya" misappropriated the state budget by selling unusable spare parts at an overpriced (3-6 times) price to the military.[54]

Criticism of Zelensky's presidency

Shariy opposed the land privatization program, which was implemented at the request of the IMF, as well as against the issuance of the next tranche of the IMF, which was signed on conditions unfavorable for Ukraine.[55]

After the Ukrainian nationalists attacked journalists of “Shariy.net“ on June 11— 12, Shariy called his supporters to rally near the President's office.[56][57] On 15 June, during the peaceful rally, the demonstrators demanded Zelensky's reaction to the current situation.[58][59][60][61]

Reception

Accusations of Shariy in "anti-Ukrainism" and "pro-Russian" position

Unbalanced scales.svg

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (March 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Ukrainian media and politicians routinely describe Shariy as a pro-Russian or anti-Ukrainian propagandist; see e.g., the Ukrainian News Agency[62] and others.[44]

Shariy responded to these accusations by declaring that last years he did not like Vladimir Putin and that he would not call to vote for him.[63] In 2015 Shariy announced a reward of 1,000 Euro to anybody who demonstrates a piece of pro-Russian or anti-Ukrainian propaganda in his posts.[64] During the 2019 Parliamentary Elections he increased the bounty to 5,000 Euro.[65] In 2017, Shariy in his video blog criticized the Russian authorities for the criminal prosecution of opposition blogger Rustem Adagamov.[66][67]

In February 2017 Shariy demanded through the court to refute the information published by the Internet publication "Detector Media [uk], which, defames his honor, dignity and business reputation because of the article of journalist Bohdan Lohvynenko, in which Shariy was called "the bullhorn of the Russian world" and "a scandalous Ukrainian pseudo refugee" [9][10]. In court, representatives of the defendants said that the definition of "Russian world" in itself does not carry a negative connotation, and therefore Shariy should not resent the expression "bullhorn of the Russian world".[68][69][70]

Journalist Vitaliy Portnikov characterized Shariy as a "Kremlin project" and "one used by its Russian owners" and Anatoli Shariy filed a lawsuit to refute these words. The lawsuit was dismissed.[71][72]

Petro Poroshenko, at a meeting with voters, called the blogger a "Kremlin bastard".[73] On 10 January 2019 Poroshenko said that Shariy was not a Ukrainian journalist and worked for Russia. In the same month Shariy a filed a defamation lawsuit.[74] In May 2020 Pechersky District Court of Kyiv declared that it had not seen evidence that Shariy works for Russia, is a Russian journalist or works for any person who is a resident of the Russian Federation and has found such information unreliable.[75][76][77] The Court ordered Poroshenko to refute his false statements in the nearest issue of the Uryadovy Kuryer newspaper. [78][79]This judgement was later reverted by a court of appeals, dismissing Shariy's lawsuit.[80]

Awards and recognition

In 2009, Shariy won the Yousmi Web-Journalism Award for "Best Story (Non-Professional)".[81] In April 2016 Shariy was named laureate of the Russia-based International Literary-Media Oles Buzina Contest (Международный литературно-медийный конкурс имени Олеся Бузины).[82]

In November 2017, in a Novoye Vremya magazine rating of the personalities by number of readers in the Ukrainian segments of Facebook and Twitter, Shariy got the 12th place with the aggregate audience of 511,000 people.[83][84] In the same month he was number 3 of the top most popular Ukrainian political bloggers on Facebook according to the rating of Espreso TV.[85]

In 2019 Shariy was 34th in the list of Top-100 most influential people and phenomena in Ukraine compiled by media holding Vesti [uk].[86]

The company Brand Analytics regularly publishes its ratings of Russophone YouTube-bloggers. In its ratings February 2019, in terms of viewer engagement rate (defined by the company as the sum of likes and comments), Shariy's vlog held the 1st place, collecting about 3 million likes and 430,000 comments. In terms of audience, with 1.8 million subscribers he was on the 38th place. The company noticed that political topics usually attracts a small fraction of YouTube viewers.[87] In its June 2020 ranking - Top 20 Russian-speaking YouTube bloggers in terms of involvement, Anatoly Shariy was the 3rd with 4.4 million people involved.[88]

Controversies

Shariy's attitude towards homosexuality

In early 2000s Anatoly Shariy belonged to the Organizing Committee of the movement "Love Against Homosexuality". In that position Shariy described homosexuals as sick people and advocated criminal liability for propaganda of homosexualism.[89]: 42–43 [90]

In a 2010 article "Blue Rust. Dictatorship of Sodomites"[nb 2] Shariy expressed an opinion that due to death sentenses for same-sex and adultery relationships in Iran after the Islamic revolution the situation with prostitution, pedophilia, and rape in Iran was much better than in Ukraine.”[89]: 46–47, 57 [91] In the summer of 2020, journalist Sergei Ivanov posted screenshots of Anatoly Shariy's publications from 2010 in which he showed understanding for the extermination of homosexuals and Roma in gas chambers during the Third Reich.[92][93]

In 2021 Shariy apologized "for his past from 11 years ago" and claimed his views had been changed since then.[94]

"And about gays. I am a simple guy from Karavaevka. My childhood passed in the Soviet Union. I have never seen those "gays" in my life, I have never been to Europe, I was certain that they would attack me with obscene offers as soon as I got off the ladder. As a Christian, I will always stand by my opinion, but I must say that I have never had a problem with a gay person in my life."

Defamation lawsuits

In November 2015, Shariy filed a defamation lawsuit against his paternal sister[95][non-primary source needed] Elena Manchenko demanding her to refute the online claim that he is a "pedophile and a thief."[96] On January 19, 2016, the court dismissed the claim, stating that according to the Ukrainian legal practise, she is not responsible for public dissemination of her statements by third parties.[97] On March 20, 2019 Anatoly Shariy won the case in the court of the Netherlands against Manchenko. The court found Manchenko guilty and demanded to pay Shariy 75,000 euros in compensation and to publicly refute her accusations against the journalist.[98][99][non-primary source needed] On March 25, 2020, Shariy won another lawsuit against Manchenko, who was ordered to pay another 25,000 euros.[100][non-primary source needed]

In 2017 Russian lawyer Mark Feygin accused Shariy of pedophilia in various media several times. It particular, in July 2017 during a live broadcast of the show "My Truth" on the "Moscow Talking" radio channel, Feygin stated "He (Anatoly Shariy) is under investigation for pedophilia".[101] Shariy sued him for defamation and forced Feygin to retract.[102]

See also: Mark Feygin § Conflict with Shariy

Remarks about Western Ukrainians

In 2014 Shariy posted a private video with insulting statements about Western Ukrainians:[103]

An unpleasant information came to me that in Kyiv, the inhabitants of Western Ukraine suddenly began to tell the people of Kyiv how they should behave, how they have to love Ukraine, how they need to sing the anthem, walk with the flag. I have several friends from Western Ukraine, I respect these people, I am proud of friendship with them, these are quite sane people. [...] You... I am Ukrainian, and you are not Ukrainians. [...] You are just half-breeds, one-third-breeds, quarter-breeds. You are half fucking Poles, you are half Hungarians, you are half the heck knows what you are. Do not tell the people of Kyiv how they should behave, how they have to love the country, love their flag. Because it is not your flag. You have no flag. You are not Ukrainians.

Shariy later apologized for the video and said that he was talking only about certain individuals.[103]

In February 2021 the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) accused Shariy of committing crimes under Part 1. Article 111 "High treason" and Part 1. Art. 161 "Violation of the equality of citizens depending on their race, nationality, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds" and published a video with alleged evidence against Shariy, including his statement about the inhabitants of Western Ukraine.[104]

Anatoly Anatoliyevich Shariy[nb 1] (Ukrainian: Анатолій Анатолійович Шарій, Russian: Анато́лий Анато́льевич Шари́й; born August 20, 1978) is a Ukrainian videoblogger and politician. Ukrainian media commonly refers to him as “pro-Russian”, "Putin-sucker" and “anti-Ukrainian”, as he really is.

Following his cremlin propaganda work, he received death threats.[4] In 2012 he received asylum in the European Union, asserting prosecution by Ukrainian law enforcement bodies related to his blogger.[5][6][7]

He became a critic of Euromaidan and the subsequent governments. Sharko considers the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War to be an internal conflict and a civil war inside Ukraine, although he does not deny the Russian involvement in the conflict.[8] He claims to consider Crimea, as well as Donetsk and Lugansk areas to be part of Ukraine,[citation needed] however during the 2020 local election campaign, the Party of Shariy distributed campaign materials with a map of Ukraine without Crimea.[9][10]

In June 2019, he launched the Party of Shariy (Ukrainian: Партiя Шарiя), which took part in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. During the 2020 local elections, the party candidates entered several city and oblast councils.[11]

In February 2021, Shariy was accused of treason and incitement to ethnic or racial hatred by the Security Service of Ukraine.[12][13] He claims these accusations are legitimate and were not politically motivated and thanks president Volodymyr Zelensky to be the initiator of this action.

Biography

Shariy was born in Kyiv and lived there until 2012.[15] For several years he suffered from compulsive gambling.[16] Shariy began to engage in journalism in early 2005.[17]

In 2012 he was granted asylum in the European Union, asserting prosecution by Ukrainian law enforcement bodies related to his journalist work.[18][19][20] He received a permanent residency permit in Lithuania for 5 years.[21]

Shariy's first wife was Olga Rabulets, who, he says, saved him from compulsive gambling.[22] In 2013 Shariy became engaged to journalist Olga Bondarenko (now Olga Shariy [ru]). Married as of 2017,[23] and now they have a child.[citation needed] Olga Shariy, together with Anatoly, co-manages the Sharij.net website.[24]

Journalism and video blogging

Shariy began to engage in journalism in early 2005.[17] In 2008, Shariy became a permanent author at the online editions of From-UA and Obozrevatel,[25] From 2008 to early 2012 he was the head of the Investigation Department of the website Obozrevatel.[25]

In 2008–2011 Shariy authored a number of publications on organized crime in Ukraine, see section Notable investigations and incidents for some.

From 2014 onwards, while living in European Union, Shariy focused on producing video blogs for his YouTube channel, which, among other things carried out debunking misinformation and propaganda in Ukrainian media. He frequently criticizes Ukrainian publications related to the events in Ukraine after Euromaidan, as well as the Ukrainian governments, usually in a derisive and insulting way.[26]

Shariy is among the 48 authors of the 2018 book of memoirs Oles Buzina. Prophet and Martyr ("Олесь Бузина. Пророк и мученик"),[27] banned in Ukraine.[28]

Notable investigations and incidents

In December 2006 he wrote the article "Why the Baby Sleeps" ("Почему спит ребенок") about the abuse of babies by professional beggars in Kyiv: they sleep because they are sedated by illegal drugs or vodka.[29]

Shariy's vs. the Ukrainian law enforcement and Shariy's asylum

Shariy sought and received the asylum in the European Union, claiming persecution by the Ukrainian law enforcement for his journalist activities, basing on the following incidents.[30]

In 2011 Shariy shot at a man from a gun with rubber bullets at a McDonald's restaurant after the man, according to Shariy, insulted his wife. [18][31] Sharij reported the incident to police.[32] Shariy later claimed that the case was later trumped-up due to his investigation of illegal drug trade, which he alleged was covered up by high rank members of Ukrainian law enforcement.[33]

In 2011, the journalists of the 1+1 TV channel and Shariy carried out a series of investigations of the alleged protection of the illegal controlled substance trade in Kyiv pharmacies by the Office for Combating Illegal Drug Trafficking (Ukrainian abbreviation: UBNON).[34] On June 7, 2011, Shariy published the first part of the article "Does UBNON Spit in the Face of the Minister?". On June 11, Shariy was summoned for interrogation in the McDonald's shooting case, which had allegedly been closed already. On June 20, Shariy gave a press conference about the situation and claimed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and UBNON ordered the pressure on him. The next day, June 21, the criminal case for hooliganism was initiated against Shariy related to McDonald's shooting.[35]

Next month Shariy and the journalists of the "1+1" TV channel issued several publications alleging the involvement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in covering up illegal casinos in Kyiv. On July 12, 2011, Shariy and the film crew of the "1+1" channel were locked on the casino premises. Shortly thereafter criminal investigators arrived and seized 34 slot machines and video recordings of the hall, resulting in a criminal case on gambling business.[36][37]A few hours after the incident in the casino, a shot was fired at Shariy's car, but the journalist was not injured.[36] In August 2011, a criminal case on an attempted assassination was opened.[38][39][40] The car shooting incident was cited as an example of attacks on journalists in the Human Rights Watch report for year 2011.[41]

After the attempted murder Shariy continued his journalistic activities. On September 21, 2011, after another publication exposing corruption in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the case on the assassination attempt on Shariy was closed, and a criminal case was initiated against the journalist himself for "staging an assassination attempt".[35]

After being placed on the all-Ukrainian wanted list, Shariy left the country and asked for political asylum in the European Union. In 2012 he was granted asylum and received a permanent residency permit in Lithuania for 5 years.[21] In May 2021, Lithuania revoked the political asylum for Shariy and declared him to be a persona non grata. Shariy currently lives in Spain.[42]

Marushinets incident

In May 2018 in a series of videos Shariy reported anti-Semitic and other racist posts by Ukrainian consul in Hamburg Vasyl Marushinets (Василь Марушинець) in his Facebook page. Ukrainian officials claimed that they did not know anything about Marushinets views. Shariy proved that this cannot be true, because a number of posts of this type were "liked" by Ukrainian diplomats, and that Marushinets posted his views not only in the privacy of Facebook, but in open forums as well.[43] The subsequent scandal led to the recall of Marushinets "for disciplinary proceedings",[44][45][46] and on May 30, 2018, he was fired.[47] In December 2019 he was restored citing violations of the formal procedure and was paid for losses of about $9,000.[48]

Political views and activism

Shariy's position on Russia-Ukraine war

Shariy refers to the War in Donbass as "internal conflict" and "civil war", while not denying the presence of Russian military in the area.[49]

He considers the separatist Donetsk and Lugansk areas to be the territories of Ukraine[50] and the Russian annexation of Crimea to be inadmissible.[51][52]

Criticism of Poroshenko and his presidency

In December 2018, Anatoly Shariy offered UAH 15,000 to anyone who asks Poroshenko about the reasons for the persecution of blogger Shariy. In early 2019 in many cities of Ukraine this question was asked during meetings with the president. In a number of cases, there was an inadequate reaction of the president and his guards to this: the president's bodyguards knocked the phones out of the hands of the questioners, "the SBU officers beat the brave ones, and the president himself tore off their caps", slapped in the face and pinched those who voiced question.[53]

When in late February – early March 2019, journalists from website bihus.info published the correspondence of Ukroboronprom leaders who were engaged in money laundering on parts for military equipment purchased in Russia, Anatoly Shariy presented evidence that President Petro Poroshenko's company "Leninskaya Kuznya" misappropriated the state budget by selling unusable spare parts at an overpriced (3-6 times) price to the military.[54]

Criticism of Zelensky's presidency

Shariy opposed the land privatization program, which was implemented at the request of the IMF, as well as against the issuance of the next tranche of the IMF, which was signed on conditions unfavorable for Ukraine.[55]

After the Ukrainian nationalists attacked journalists of “Shariy.net“ on June 11— 12, Shariy called his supporters to rally near the President's office.[56][57] On 15 June, during the peaceful rally, the demonstrators demanded Zelensky's reaction to the current situation.[58][59][60][61]

Reception

Accusations of Shariy in "anti-Ukrainism" and "pro-Russian" position

Unbalanced scales.svg

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (March 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Ukrainian media and politicians routinely describe Shariy as a pro-Russian or anti-Ukrainian propagandist; see e.g., the Ukrainian News Agency[62] and others.[44]

Shariy responded to these accusations by declaring that last years he did not like Vladimir Putin and that he would not call to vote for him.[63] In 2015 Shariy announced a reward of 1,000 Euro to anybody who demonstrates a piece of pro-Russian or anti-Ukrainian propaganda in his posts.[64] During the 2019 Parliamentary Elections he increased the bounty to 5,000 Euro.[65] In 2017, Shariy in his video blog criticized the Russian authorities for the criminal prosecution of opposition blogger Rustem Adagamov.[66][67]

In February 2017 Shariy demanded through the court to refute the information published by the Internet publication "Detector Media [uk], which, defames his honor, dignity and business reputation because of the article of journalist Bohdan Lohvynenko, in which Shariy was called "the bullhorn of the Russian world" and "a scandalous Ukrainian pseudo refugee" [9][10]. In court, representatives of the defendants said that the definition of "Russian world" in itself does not carry a negative connotation, and therefore Shariy should not resent the expression "bullhorn of the Russian world".[68][69][70]

Journalist Vitaliy Portnikov characterized Shariy as a "Kremlin project" and "one used by its Russian owners" and Anatoli Shariy filed a lawsuit to refute these words. The lawsuit was dismissed.[71][72]

Petro Poroshenko, at a meeting with voters, called the blogger a "Kremlin bastard".[73] On 10 January 2019 Poroshenko said that Shariy was not a Ukrainian journalist and worked for Russia. In the same month Shariy a filed a defamation lawsuit.[74] In May 2020 Pechersky District Court of Kyiv declared that it had not seen evidence that Shariy works for Russia, is a Russian journalist or works for any person who is a resident of the Russian Federation and has found such information unreliable.[75][76][77] The Court ordered Poroshenko to refute his false statements in the nearest issue of the Uryadovy Kuryer newspaper. [78][79]This judgement was later reverted by a court of appeals, dismissing Shariy's lawsuit.[80]

Awards and recognition

In 2009, Shariy won the Yousmi Web-Journalism Award for "Best Story (Non-Professional)".[81] In April 2016 Shariy was named laureate of the Russia-based International Literary-Media Oles Buzina Contest (Международный литературно-медийный конкурс имени Олеся Бузины).[82]

In November 2017, in a Novoye Vremya magazine rating of the personalities by number of readers in the Ukrainian segments of Facebook and Twitter, Shariy got the 12th place with the aggregate audience of 511,000 people.[83][84] In the same month he was number 3 of the top most popular Ukrainian political bloggers on Facebook according to the rating of Espreso TV.[85]

In 2019 Shariy was 34th in the list of Top-100 most influential people and phenomena in Ukraine compiled by media holding Vesti [uk].[86]

The company Brand Analytics regularly publishes its ratings of Russophone YouTube-bloggers. In its ratings February 2019, in terms of viewer engagement rate (defined by the company as the sum of likes and comments), Shariy's vlog held the 1st place, collecting about 3 million likes and 430,000 comments. In terms of audience, with 1.8 million subscribers he was on the 38th place. The company noticed that political topics usually attracts a small fraction of YouTube viewers.[87] In its June 2020 ranking - Top 20 Russian-speaking YouTube bloggers in terms of involvement, Anatoly Shariy was the 3rd with 4.4 million people involved.[88]

Controversies

Shariy's attitude towards homosexuality

In early 2000s Anatoly Shariy belonged to the Organizing Committee of the movement "Love Against Homosexuality". In that position Shariy described homosexuals as sick people and advocated criminal liability for propaganda of homosexualism.[89]: 42–43 [90]

In a 2010 article "Blue Rust. Dictatorship of Sodomites"[nb 2] Shariy expressed an opinion that due to death sentenses for same-sex and adultery relationships in Iran after the Islamic revolution the situation with prostitution, pedophilia, and rape in Iran was much better than in Ukraine.”[89]: 46–47, 57 [91] In the summer of 2020, journalist Sergei Ivanov posted screenshots of Anatoly Shariy's publications from 2010 in which he showed understanding for the extermination of homosexuals and Roma in gas chambers during the Third Reich.[92][93]

In 2021 Shariy apologized "for his past from 11 years ago" and claimed his views had been changed since then.[94]

"And about gays. I am a simple guy from Karavaevka. My childhood passed in the Soviet Union. I have never seen those "gays" in my life, I have never been to Europe, I was certain that they would attack me with obscene offers as soon as I got off the ladder. As a Christian, I will always stand by my opinion, but I must say that I have never had a problem with a gay person in my life."

Defamation lawsuits

In November 2015, Shariy filed a defamation lawsuit against his paternal sister[95][non-primary source needed] Elena Manchenko demanding her to refute the online claim that he is a "pedophile and a thief."[96] On January 19, 2016, the court dismissed the claim, stating that according to the Ukrainian legal practise, she is not responsible for public dissemination of her statements by third parties.[97] On March 20, 2019 Anatoly Shariy won the case in the court of the Netherlands against Manchenko. The court found Manchenko guilty and demanded to pay Shariy 75,000 euros in compensation and to publicly refute her accusations against the journalist.[98][99][non-primary source needed] On March 25, 2020, Shariy won another lawsuit against Manchenko, who was ordered to pay another 25,000 euros.[100][non-primary source needed]

In 2017 Russian lawyer Mark Feygin accused Shariy of pedophilia in various media several times. It particular, in July 2017 during a live broadcast of the show "My Truth" on the "Moscow Talking" radio channel, Feygin stated "He (Anatoly Shariy) is under investigation for pedophilia".[101] Shariy sued him for defamation and forced Feygin to retract.[102]

See also: Mark Feygin § Conflict with Shariy

Remarks about Western Ukrainians

In 2014 Shariy posted a private video with insulting statements about Western Ukrainians:[103]

An unpleasant information came to me that in Kyiv, the inhabitants of Western Ukraine suddenly began to tell the people of Kyiv how they should behave, how they have to love Ukraine, how they need to sing the anthem, walk with the flag. I have several friends from Western Ukraine, I respect these people, I am proud of friendship with them, these are quite sane people. [...] You... I am Ukrainian, and you are not Ukrainians. [...] You are just half-breeds, one-third-breeds, quarter-breeds. You are half fucking Poles, you are half Hungarians, you are half the heck knows what you are. Do not tell the people of Kyiv how they should behave, how they have to love the country, love their flag. Because it is not your flag. You have no flag. You are not Ukrainians.

Shariy later apologized for the video and said that he was talking only about certain individuals.[103]

In February 2021 the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) accused Shariy of committing crimes under Part 1. Article 111 "High treason" and Part 1. Art. 161 "Violation of the equality of citizens depending on their race, nationality, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds" and published a video with alleged evidence against Shariy, including his statement about the inhabitants of Western Ukraine.[104]