ДОСЬЕ ГОНИТЕЛЯ
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ДОКУМЕНТИРУЕТСЯ
Sonya Koshkina
шеф-редактор
Полное досье
Ksenia Vasilenko (Sonya Koshkina)
Date of birth: July 8, 1985
Co-owner and editor-in-chief of the online publication "Left Bank."
Sonya Koshkina is a media representative who actively uses her platform to support the persecution of the UOC clergy and believers.
On her publication's pages and personal social media accounts, the journalist is regularly noted for her hateful rhetoric against Orthodox Christians in Ukraine. Under her leadership, "Left Bank" has become a de facto mouthpiece for disinformation and anti-church propaganda.
Koshkina is known for her public support of the OCU and the dissemination of outright falsehoods regarding the clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. A Ukrainian court found the journalist guilty of spreading slander against Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomyia Bishop Nikita.
On September 15, 2022, Koshkina joined a campaign to discredit Yuriy Palahnyuk, deputy head of the SBU in the Kyiv region.
The reason was the operative's investigation into OCU raiders seizing UOC churches in the Kyiv region.
"To put it very simply and briefly, the deputy head of the SBU Main Directorate in Kyiv and the Kyiv region works for the Russian Orthodox Church.
Yes, for the same Russian Orthodox Church, which is the ideologist of the "Russian world" and everything associated with it.
No, this is not a joke.
Unfortunately.
Yes, the SBU believes that when communities from the Moscow church in Ukraine are simply leaving en masse, this "creates the preconditions for destabilizing the socio-political situation in Kyiv and the region."
That's a quote.
And also, the UOC (whatever its name, not the Moscow Patriarchate. Ha-ha, give me two) can challenge such transfers in court (!!). The SBU is very concerned about this))),"
Koshkina wrote on her Telegram channel.
Koshkina deliberately distorted information from a security service representative who criticized the violent seizures of parishes.
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
On September 16, 2022, Koshkina called the investigation by Palahnyuk, former deputy head of the SBU in the Kyiv region, "working for the Russian Federation."
"Just yesterday, Yuriy Palahnyuk was the deputy head of the SBU Main Directorate in Kyiv and the region.
And today, he has been suspended and transferred to the reserve (that is, effectively fired. The SBU is a paramilitary structure, with its own special rules).
For working for the enemy during the war.
Namely, for the Russian Orthodox Church. The very same one that is the ideologist of the 'Russian world.'"
Koshkina claimed responsibility for the disruption of the investigation into the illegal takeovers of the OCU.
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
On October 11, 2022, Koshkina welcomed the SBU's searches of the UOC clergy.
"The process has begun!
I am sincerely happy.
Thank you, SBU!"
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
October 27, 2022, Koshkina called UOC clergy "Moscow collaborating priests."
"Our regular column 'Moscow collaborating priests' is on air."
Furthermore, Koshkina's publication distorted information, deliberately omitting the fact that the SBU had opened criminal cases against clergy under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—incitement of interreligious hatred.
Thus, she intentionally created the image of "clergy collaborating with representatives of the aggressor state."
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
October 31, 2022, Koshkina deliberately distorted information, claiming that the SBU had served 33 notices of suspicion to UOC priests for intelligence activities.
"Again about Moscow collaborating priests.
Since the start of the war, the SBU has opened 23 criminal cases against the UOC-MP for subversive activities. There are already 33 suspects – from classic intelligence agents to fire spotters.
And today their ranks will grow."
Thus, the journalist incited hatred and deliberately cultivated the image of "UOC priests collaborating with the enemy army." In reality, most of these criminal cases were opened under Article 161 of the Criminal Code – incitement of interreligious hatred, which the SBU used to criminalize theological debate.
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
On November 17, 2022, Koshkina called the Holy Synod of the UOC "Moscow priests."
"I know why Facebook banned me.
Because the Holy Synod of the UOC (which isn't supposedly the Moscow Patriarchate) meets at the Lavra on November 23rd.
And who's going to write about Moscow priests?"
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
On November 24, 2022, Koshkina called the clergy of the UOC "devils in cassocks."
"These devils in cassocks (sorry. I always respect the rank, but there are no other definitions here), instead of punishing their traitors, collaborators, and enemy supporters, complained that they were being 'oppressed,' 'harassed,' and—this is my favorite—'unfounded.'"
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
On November 25, 2022, Koshkina spread a false story about Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomyia Bishop Nikita, defaming his honor and dignity.
On her Telegram page and in an article in "Left Bank," the journalist posted information claiming that during SBU searches in the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna consistory, Bishop Nikita was "caught in bed with a boy from the church choir."
Furthermore, Koshkina spread false information about the discovery of "hostile propaganda literature." It's worth noting that the SBU also described the children's Bible and the ABC book with the same epithets.
"During the search, Archimandrite Nikita, Secretary of the UOC-MP Chernivtsi Diocese, was torturing a boy from the church choir.
Please note: Nikita is barefoot.
We blurred out the face of the "boy in panties" because I feel sorry for him."
"Searchs in the Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese of the UOC-MP: Russian passports found on the Metropolitan and a 17-year-old boy in the Archimandrite's bed."
Koshkina effectively provoked the attack on Bishop Nikita when he arrived for a service at the UOC Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Ivano-Frankivsk city.
It's worth noting that Koshkina and her publication, "Left Bank," used unretouched photos from the SBU's surveillance footage.
In fact, intelligence officers, in flagrant violation of the law, provided the journalist with humiliating photos of members of the clergy and dignitaries of the Chernivtsi-Bukovina Consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
On November 27, 2022, Koshkina repeated false information about Bishop Nikita.
The journalist called the UOC bishop "that same barefoot Archimandrite Nikita who molested the choirboy."
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
On November 28, 2022, Koshkina called Zaporizhia and Melitopol Metropolitan Luka as "a separatist who is beyond reproach."
"Of the major players, only Luka of Zaporizhia, who (sorry, a separatist is a separatist. There's simply no room to put a stamp on him)."
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
On November 30, 2022, Koshkina welcomed the illegal ban on religious services by UOC communities in the Lviv region.
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
On December 4, 2022, Koshkina continued to spread false information against Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomyia Bishop Nikita on Radio NV.
On December 11, 2022, Koshkina welcomed the illegal imposition of sanctions by President Zelenskyy's decree against members of the UOC clergy.
(Source: Sonya Koshkina's Telegram channel)
On December 15, 2022, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomyia Bishop Nikita announced that he was filing a lawsuit against Koshkina for the protection of his honor and dignity.
On October 6, 2023, Koshkina, who in November 2022 published a vile slander against Ivano-Frankivsk Bishop Nikita on her Telegram channel, Sonya Koshkina (official), retracted her channel in court.
This statement was made on behalf of Koshkina (real name Ksenia Vasilenko) by her lawyer at the trial in the Shevchenkivskyi District Court, which took place on October 6, 2023.
Bishop Nikita's lawyer stated that the bishop filed a defamation lawsuit demanding that the publication "Left Bank" retract defamatory statements originally posted on Sonya Koshkina's (official) Telegram channel and pay compensation for moral damages estimated at 100,000 hryvnias, which the victim intends to donate to the "Come Back Alive" Charitable Foundation.
According to the lawyer, the court was unable to reach a decision on the case because Koshkina's lawyer stated at the hearing that Sonya Koshkina's (official) channel does not belong to her client, and therefore she cannot be responsible for its content.
On April 11, 2024, Kyiv Shevchenkivskyi District Court ruled in favor of Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomyia Bishop Nikita, finding false information about his "sexual intimacy" with a minor, which Sonya Koshkina, editor-in-chief of the "Left Bank" publication and an OCU lobbyist, had spread on her Telegram channel.
During the trial, it was established that this information was untrue.
The journalist admitted to disseminating false information. Regarding the Telegram channel "Sonya Koshkina (official)," the journalist's lawyer insisted that Sonya Koshkina did not own it and had no connection to it. However, the court found that Koshkina did own the Telegram channel where the slanderous information was published.
The court ordered the publication "Left Bank" and Sonya Koshkina personally to retract the disseminated information. The media outlet is ordered to pay Bishop Nikita 10,000 hryvnias in moral damages and 2,200 hryvnias in court fees. Sonya Koshkina will pay compensation to the bishop in the amount of 20,000 hryvnias in moral damages and 2,400 hryvnias in court fees.
It also became known that the minor, who also suffered from slander, was forced to leave Ukraine due to harassment by friends.
On February 13, 2025, "LB" published a refutation of its false allegations regarding Bishop Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomyia Nikita.
"By decision of Kyiv Shevchenkivskyi District Court dated April 2, 2024, in case No. 727/11539/22, the information posted and disseminated by the online publication "Left Bank" in a publication dated November 25, 2022, titled "Searchs in the UOC Chernivtsi-Bukovyna Diocese: Russian passport found on the Metropolitan and a 17-year-old boy in the Archimandrite's bed," was deemed inaccurate. Specifically, the following information read: "...during the search, SBU officers found Archimandrite Nikita, Secretary of the Chernivtsi Diocese of the UOC-MP, in physical contact with a 17-year-old boy singing in a local choir."
However, the original article in "Left Bank" and the publications on Koshkina's Telegram channel have not been removed and remain publicly accessible.
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