Maria Zholobova

Affiliated media: iStories , Journalist

Incident date: July 18, 2025

Attack type:

• prosecution for violation of the honour, dignity and business reputation; violation of privacy following civil lawsuit

Who attacked: Non-authorities

Source: Mediazona

Location: Russia, Krasnodar Krai, Ust-Labinsk

Additional information:

The Ust-Labinsk District Court in Krasnodar Krai has received a lawsuit from businessman Oleg Deripaska seeking protection of his honour and reputation. The defendants are Verstka journalists Olesya Gerasimenko and Ivan Zhadayev, as well as iStories journalists Dmitry Velikovsky and Maria Zholobova. On 19 June, Verstka and iStories jointly published an investigation into a network of underage sex workers operating in one of Russia’s regions. Deripaska was named as a client of the network. At Deripaska’s request, the court imposed interim measures, ordering Roskomnadzor to block all publications relating to the investigation, including posts on the Telegram channels of iStories, Verstka and The Insider. The decision to block the content was later overturned.