On February 12, the Cyprus Daily News website published an article titled: «Gubarev’s importation: Putin’s IT guys are taking over Cyprus». The article talked about the infiltration into the political and business environment of Cyprus by Russian citizens with ties to the state structures and special services of the Russian Federation.
The article used data from an interview with Russians residing in Cyprus, published in Forbes magazine, where the enormous influence of these individuals on the government of the Republic of Cyprus is mentioned. We analyzed several of the figures mentioned in the piece, their ties to Russia and the extent of their influence on the government of the Republic of Cyprus.
A few hours after the publication we received threatening letters from lawyers representing Alexei Gubarev, Oleg Reshetnikov, Pavel Muntian, Ugne Bourasiene and others mentioned in the article. The representative of Gubarev, Muntian and Reshetnikov is the same lawyer Michalis Kyriakidis, known as a lawyer representing a number of Russian oligarchs and officials, including those under international sanctions. He is also known to be the subject of a criminal investigation into an illegal scheme for an Iranian citizen to obtain Cypriot citizenship.
The lawyers accused us of defamation and demanded that we immediately remove the article or at least exclude references to their clients, threatening legal action and «severe consequences». We sent them an official response explaining that the material was based solely on data from open sources available for verification.
On February 27, the lawyer of Gubarev, Reshetnikov and Muntian notified us that lawsuits had been filed in the Limassol court against Boris Demash, Dmitry Khmelnitsky, Leonid Grigoriev and Yuri Shulipa. Boris Demash is the founder of our publication, but he ceased to serve as editor back in October 2021. Neither he nor the others mentioned in the lawsuit are the authors of the disputed article and are not responsible for the editorial policy or content of Cyprus Daily News. They are the authors of the articles we publish on our website, nothing more.
We tried to explain this to the plaintiff’s lawyers, but in response we received a court order for the immediate removal of the article based on charges of defamation and «damage to reputation». After reading the accompanying materials, we came to the conclusion that the court was misled: Gubarev’s lawyers presented false and distorted information, substituting facts with a manipulative selection of materials about Demash. The court, it seems, did not even understand the essence of the case and satisfied all the claims of the plaintiff.
The speed of this decision without analyzing the text of the article raises suspicions that Gubarev’s influence extends not only to the business community and the Cypriot government, but perhaps also to the Cypriot court, which is supposed to be independent. This is the case wherever Russian influence is strong.
If the court had actually studied the article and not just the materials filed by the plaintiff and acted independently, it would have ruled differently.
Subsequently, based on this decision, our site was disconnected from hosting. We have reinstated the site as we have no intention of backing down.
In April, Boris Demash was served with two summonses to appear in court on claims from Gubarev (the hearing is scheduled for May 5) and from Reshetnikov (on May 28). Today Demash appeared in court for allegedly failing to fulfill the court decision — although he cannot fulfill it, since he is neither the author of the article nor the editor of the website.
Obviously, Gubarev, Reshetnikov and others know that Boris Demash has nothing to do with the published article. They are also well aware that he left our project back in 2021. Their goal is not to protect their reputation (it cannot be protected in its absence), but to put pressure on Demash in order to force the editorial board to remove the article through him.
This is a classic example of a SLAPP suit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) — an abuse of the law to pressure critics. SLAPP suits are lawsuits filed by wealthy and powerful individuals against journalists, activists and human rights defenders not to win a case, but to financially and morally exhaust the defendants, silence them, refuse to criticize and paralyze their activities. SLAPP suits are an attempt to destroy freedom of speech through formally legal procedures.
Agents of Russian secret services in the West skillfully use the judicial system of democratic countries in their own interests. And in Cyprus, where the influence of Russian agents is extremely high, they seem to have put it at their service.
Our position remains unchanged: under no circumstances will we remove the article.
Alexei Gubarev is a man with great connections and resources. But his capabilities end where our right to speak the truth begins.