Anatoly Shariy

Anatoly Anatolyevich Shariy (Ukrainian: Анатолій Анатолійович Шарій, Russian: Анато́лий Анато́льевич Шари́й; born August 20, 1978) is an Ukrainian journalist,[4] videoblogger and politician. Ukrainian media commonly refer to him as "pro-Russian" and "anti-Ukrainian", the labels he denies. In June 2019 he founded a party, Party of Shariy (Ukrainian: Партiя Шарiя), which participated in that year's parliamentary election.

Anatoly Shariy
Personal information
Born (1978-08-20) 20 August 1978[1]
Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, USSR[1]
NationalityUkrainian
Residenceunknown (whereabouts concealed)
owns property in Roda de Berà, Spain[2]
OccupationJournalist
Websitesharij.net
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2013–present
GenrePolitical, comedy, vlog
Subscribers2.37 million [3]
(July 9, 2020)
Total views3.17 billion
(March 5, 2020)

Earlier, Sharij was known primarily for his investigations of the police and other law enforcement agencies during the Yanukovych government. He sought and eventually received asylum in the European Union, thus avoiding prosecution by Ukrainian law enforcement bodies in 2012.[5][6][7] He is also a prominent critic of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and of its aftermath.

Early life and career

in early years Sharij lived in Kyiv[8]. According to his own interview at the age of 16 he was engaged in fraud for which he was constantly and repeatedly detained by law enforcement officers[9]

Sharij began to engage in journalism in early 2005.[10] Before that, for many years he suffered from compulsive gambling.[11]

Journalism and video blogging

In 2005, he worked at Ukrainian women's glossy magazines Natalie, Edinstvenaya, Polina and at the Ukrainian periodical publication Segodnya and has collaborated with Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets and others.

In December 2006 he wrote the article "Why the Baby Sleeps" ("Почему спит ребенок")[12] about the abuse of babies by professional beggars in Kiev: they sleep because they are sedated by illegal drugs or vodka.

In 2008, Sharij became a permanent author at the online editions of From-UA and Obozrevatel, but since 2009 he worked only with online newspapers.

From 2008 to early 2012, prior to the moment Sharij fled Ukraine, he was the head of the Investigation Department of the website Obozrevatel. In 2008–2011 Sharij also authored a number of publications on organized crime in Ukraine.

In 2012 he was granted asylum in the European Union. He received a permanent residency permit in Lithuania for 5 years.[4][13] Shariy left Ukraine because of two criminal prosecutions. One involved the an incident when he shot at a man from a gun with rubber bullets at a McDonald's restaurant. According to Shariy he did this after the man attacked his wife.[5] In addition, in October 2011 Shariy was charged with a second criminal case when he was accused of fabricating an attack upon himself.[5]

"They trumped up one case over a shooting at McDonald's. A man attacked my wife who is on maternity leave, behaved improperly, and who invited me to fight. As a result, he received two bullets from a gun with rubber bullets and a light bodily injury," Shariy said.

"The man left, but I called the police and gave evidence. Nobody called me in for questioning, and all was quiet. The head of the Shevchenkivsky district department of police, Hryntsevych, said that there were no grounds to open a criminal case against me. A month later, Deputy Interior Minister Farynnyk [opened a criminal case against] me," he added.

Shariy said that the incident at McDonald's was no coincidence, because earlier he began investigating the subject of illegal drug trade that "was covered, speaking directly, led, by the Interior Ministry." According to the journalist, the police conducted their investigation into the shooting at McDonalds in four days, trumped up a criminal case against him under Part 4, Article 296 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism committed with a firearm) and sent it to the courts.

— Kyiv journalist asks for asylum in Lithuania[14]

From 2014 onwards, Shariy focused on producing video blogs for his YouTube channel, which, among other things carries out debunking misinformation and propaganda in Ukrainian media. He also frequently criticizes mainly Ukrainian publications related to the events in Ukraine after Euromaidan, as well as the current Ukrainian government.

In May 2018 Shariy posted a series of videos which reported anti-Semitic and other racist posts by Ukrainian consul in Hamburg Vasyl Marushinets (Василь Марушинець) in his Facebook page. Ukrainian officials tried to distance themselves from Marushinets claiming that they did not know anything about his views. Sharij 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.[15] The subsequent scandal have led to recall of Marushinets "for disciplinary proceedings",[16][17][18] and on May 30, 2018, he was fired.[19] In December 2019 he was restored citing violations of the formal procedure and was paid the losses of about $9,000.[20]

Shariy is among the 48 authors of the 2018 book of memoirs Oles Buzina. Prophet and Martyr ("Олесь Бузина. Пророк и мученик"),[21] banned in Ukraine.[22]

Reception

In Ukraine Sharij is characterized as a Ukrainophobe and Kremlin-inspired project. Notably, in 2017 Bohdan Logvinenko characterized Sharij as a "mouthpiece of the Russian world". This characteristic was the subject of the claim of honor and dignity protection, but the claim was denied by Kyiv Court of Appeal[23]. Another similar court precedent occurs after Vitaliy Portnikov characterized Sharij as a "Kremlin project" and "one used by its Russian owners". The claim of honor and dignity protection finally was denied by Supreme Court of Ukraine[24]

In the same time in Russia Sharij is highly appreciated and won some notable awards. In 2009, Sharij won the Yousmi Web-Journalism Award for "Best Story (Non-Professional)".[25]. In April 2016 Shariy was named laureate of the Russia-based International Literary-Media Oles Buzina Contest (Международный литературно-медийный конкурс имени Олеся Бузины). [26].

On November 16, 2017, in a rating of the personalities by number of readers in the Ukrainian segments of Facebook and Twitter, Sharij got the 12th place with the aggregate audience of 511,000 people.[27][28]

On March 18, 2019, the company Brand Analytics published its ratings of Russophone YouTube-bloggers for February 2019. In terms of viewer engagement rate (defined by the company as the sum of likes and comments), where Sharij's vlog holds the 1st place, who collected 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 notices that political topics usually attracts a small fraction of YouTube viewers.[29] In summer 2019 Sharij was downgraded to the 2nd place in the engagement rate category, beaten by vlogger Mamix.[30]

Journalist Vladimir Posner commented on Sharij's work, saying that Sharij was one of those who had the right to be called a journalist, because, unlike many others, Sharij is calling a spade a spade. "He allowed himself (and, as I understand it, continues to allow itself) to write and speak the truth about Ukraine. He once ended up making a run of it and now is forced to hide from the authorities of this extremely democratic country"[31]

Political views of Shariy

Accusations of Shariy's anti-Ukrainism

Ukrainian media routinely describes Sharij as a pro-Russian or anti-Ukrainian propagandist; see e.g., the Ukrainian News Agency[32] and others.[16] Vitaliy Portnikov characterized Sharij as a "Kremlin project" and "one used by its Russian owners". According to Borys Filatov and Anton Gerashchenko, Shariy was recruited by the FSB[33][34]. A similar opinion was expressed by ATR Deputy General Director Ayder Muzhdabayev, who called Sharij "the Kremlin's main propagandist and criminal, a criminal man and a 100% Hague defendant."[35]. 5th president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, at a meeting with voters, called the blogger a "Kremlin bastard."[36] According to Channel 24, the registration of Andriy Klyuyev and Anatoliy Sharij in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary elections is a strategy led by the Kremlin. Its goal is for the maximum number of pro-Russian figures to take part in the Ukrainian election process."[37]

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.[38] In response in 2015 Sharij announced a reward of 1,000 Euro to anybody who demonstrates a piece of pro-Russian or anti-Ukrainian propaganda in his posts.[39] During the 2019 Parliamentary Elections he increased the bounty to 5,000 Euro.[40] Yury Melnik of Lviv National University explains that it is close to impossible to find his quotations in support of his pro-Russianess. However he writes that this conclusion may be drawn from the one-sideness of Sharij's criticism: he criticizes "pro-Ukrainian and pro-European forces in Ukraine and opposition forces in Russia", while he seldom comments on the actions of the Russian state.[40]

Accusations of Shariy's pro-Russian propaganda

Detector Media, citing several examples, argues that many of his expressed views match those of Russian propaganda and that the latter frequently cites Shariy.[41]

Shariy's position on War in Donbass

An article of Detector Media cites Shariy's youtube videos where he refers to the War in Donbass as "internal conflict" and "civil war", while not denying the presence of Russian military in the area.[42]

Attitude towards homosexuality

Anatoly Shariy belonged to the Organizing Committee of the movement "Love Against Homosexuality". In that position Shariy declared: “The danger is that sometimes skinheads want to join the movement, [our] movement has nothing to do with that… They [homosexual people] should sit and be happy that they are not getting killed. (…) From their side should be respect; on my part there is nothing to respect them for, [they are] sick people.” According to him the ultimate goal of Love Against Homosexuality is the following: “[When] homosexual people stay in their apartments and won’t come out to streets, to mass media and won’t propagate their life style,” “we demand criminal liability for propaganda of homosexualism.”[43]:42–43

In the article "Blue Rust. Dictatorship of Sodomites" Shariy wrote: “In Iran, after the Islamic revolution of 1979 over 4000 of lesbians and homosexuals have been sentenced to death. The clerical regime has also executed many women for adulterate sex. (…) I suppose the situation with prostitution, pedophilia, and rape in Iran is hundreds of times better than in our extremely cultured and civilized country.”[43]:46–47, 57[44]

Controversies

Shariy vs. Feygin

In 2017 Russian lawyer Mark Feygin accused Shariy of pedophilia both in social networks and traditional 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".[45][46] Sharij sued him for defamation, and eventually, after Feygin's appeal, won the case.[47] On 24 April 2018 the Moscow Chamber of Lawyers stripped Mark Feygin of his attorney status. He has been allowed to reinstate it after a period of one year by passing a bar exam or by successfully appealing the Chamber's decision. The ruling was based on Feygin's "inappropriate statements" (foul language) made towards Anatoly Shariy's lawyer Stalina Gurevich and Shariy himself .[48] The court agreed with the plaintiff that Mark Feygin used foul language via his Twitter account to address a lawyer colleague and her client.[49] See Mark Feygin#Anatoly Shariy lawsuit for more details.

Registration of Shariy as parliamentary election candidate

While Shariy's political party Party of Shariy was registered to take part in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, according to the Ukrainian law, Shariy himself could take part in the elections, because the 5 years leading up to the election he did not live in Ukraine.[50] Nevertheless, on 2 July 2019, the Central Election Commission (CEC) registered Shariy's candidate running for parliament according to a June 30 decision of the Supreme Court.[51] On the next day, 3 July 2019, this decision was reverted. In an interview to the Ukrainian TV channel Nash TV Shariy explained his actions in the event. When his registration was rejected for the first time due to the 5-year residency criterion, he contested the decision on the grounds that there was no legal evidence of his absence, because the Ukrainian border guard had no data about his border crossing. Accepting this argument, the Supreme Court instructed the CEC to accept the registration. However the next day CEC was ordered to revert this decision based on an additional evidence which in Shariy's opinion has no legal standing. He presented this controversy as a test for the absence of the rule of law in Ukraine, comparing it with the United States, where a case may be thrown out of the court on formal grounds (e.g., failure to read the Miranda warning to a detained suspect).[52]

Shariy vs. Detector Media

In 2017 Shariy sued Detector Media for an article where he was called "рупор русского мира" ("bullhorn of the Russian World") claiming this to be false information which degrades his honor, dignity and business reputation. This claim was denied by the court and by the appellate court, because no convincing evidence was presented of the said degradation, in particular, why "Russian World" is something bad.[41][53]

Scandalous remarks in the media

In 2014 published a video in which he made some controversial statements about some inhabitants of Western Ukraine:[54]

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. I ask my appeal to the irresponsible women not to consider him chauvinism and racism and something else. [...] You... I am Ukrainian, and you are not Ukrainians. You second... there, second... well, I don’t say second grade, no, you are just half-breeds. Three-timers, foursquads. You are half fucking Poles, half you are Hungarians, half you the devil knows what you are really. Do not tell the people of Kyiv how they should behave, how they need 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.[54]

In June 2020 a controversy sparkled when it became known that Sharij published a blog entry on January 7, 2010 in which he showed understanding for the usage of gas chambers during the Romani genocide and the Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany:[55].

I hate Adolf Schicklgruber. This is a vile rascal and all that. But was he really wrong, sending this abomination [homosexuals] together with gypsies [...] into gas chambers and for sterilization???!!! What do you think - return the article for sodomy now - will then the number of sick youngsters and "stars" with broken asses decrease?[56]

gollark: And/or sleep deprivation.
gollark: Apiohypnoforms, probably.
gollark: It's not like you can't just shove it somewhere and ignore it.
gollark: Isn't that... all current ones?
gollark: It's okay for apiopyroforms.

References
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  2. "ІСПАНСЬКА ВІЛЛА АНАТОЛІЯ ШАРІЯ", slidstvo.info, July 7 2020 (retrieved July 7, 2020)
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  34. "Антон Геращенко: Шарий существует на деньги России и ее спецслужб". Archived from the original on 7 july 2019. Retrieved 3 серпня 2019. Check date values in: |accessdate=, |archivedate= (help)
  35. Шарій це головний пропагандист кремля, злочинець, підсудний трибуналу в Гаазі — Муждабаєв Archived 2019-08-10 at the Wayback Machine prm.ua
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  37. Через Клюева и Шария Кремль планирует показать уровень поддержки пророссийских сил, — Верстюк Archived 2019-06-29 at the Wayback Machine
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  39. "Я так понимаю, что 1000 евро, обещанные мною, переходят в Новый Год", Sharij's tweet (retrieved July 11, 2019)
  40. "1/2 ПРАВДЫ + 1/2 ПРАВДЫ = ЛОЖЬ" ["1/2 Truth + 1/2 Truth" = Falsehood], by Yuri Melnik (Юрий Мельник, Кафедра зарубежной печати и информации Львовский национальный университет имени Ивана Франко) July 30, 2019 (retrieved November 15, 2019)
  41. "«Рука Кремля» и «рупор русского мира»: за что Анатолий Шарий обиделся на статью «Детектора медиа»"
  42. []https://ms.detector.media/manipulyatsii/post/23299/2019-08-07-khto-takii-sharii-vid-ukrainskogo-zhurnalista-do-populyarnogo-blogera-ta-prorosiiskogo-politika/ "Хто такий Шарій? Від українського журналіста до популярного блогера та проросійського політика"], Detector Media
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  44. Anatoly Sharij, "Голубая ржавчина. Диктатура содомитов" ["Blue Rust. Dictatorship of Sodomites"], Новости Христианского Мира, [Christian World News], April 28, 2010
  45. [lenta.ru/news/2017/07/18/sharii/ "Шарий потребовал завести дело на "нездорового" Фейгина из-за слов о педофилии"] Check |url= value (help). Retrieved October 27, 2017.
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  53. Апеляційний суд відмовив блогеру Шарію у задоволенні позову до «Детектора медіа»
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  56. А если гомосексуалистов кастрировать?
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