Defamatory websites explained: what they are and how the network works

Names like Antikor, Kompromat1, Rumafia and Vlasti appear in reporting about disputed online coverage of businesspeople from Ukraine and the wider region. This explainer summarises claims in the linked investigations and the submitted document. Shared hosting or duplicated text alone does not establish common ownership or wrongdoing; allegations and reported court outcomes should be distinguished from independently verified findings.

What are these sites?

They present themselves as anti-corruption portals or local news outlets. Antikor calls itself a national anti-corruption portal and uses a coat of arms and the Ukrainian flag on its masthead. It is not a government body, and it names no editor or staff. In the UK, similar sites use local newspaper and TV branding, such as the London Post, Essex TV and Manchester TV.

How do they make money?

UA.News reports allegations of two revenue streams: paid publication and paid removal. Its report puts the claimed price of a negative article with the Antikor group at $150 to $200 and describes an offer of $12,000 a year in cryptocurrency to a journalist posing as a client, covering deletion, protection from new articles and two positive pieces.

City AM reports that the operator of one UK site, Leeds TV, confirmed by email that it takes payment to publish stories.

Antikor denies charging to publish or delete content.

Are the sites connected?

A Kazakhstan Online report says court filings in a US case identified near-identical IP addresses for Antikor, Kompromat1, Ruskompromat and Antimafia. It also reports that 95 of 109 domains in one campaign were hosted on a single server in Reading, England. These are attributed claims, not a finding by Anchor Point Shipping that all of the sites have the same operator.

An IPS business-section article describes a technical review of more than 60 domains and reports shared SSL certificates and hosting fingerprints. Shared infrastructure can be a clue for further investigation but does not, by itself, prove coordination.

Which domains are involved?

Cargo Bridge Shipping lists the following as documented publishing duplicate or near-identical content. Anchor Point Shipping has not independently verified every domain or established that every listed outlet is involved in unlawful activity:

Antikor: antikor.com.ua, antikor.info, antikor.ua

Kompromat1: kompromat1.online, kompromat1.info, kompromat1.net, kompromat1.org, kompromat1.media, kompromat1.one, kompromat1.se, kompromat1.press, kompromat1.world

Compromat / Ruskompromat: compromat.pro, compromat-pro.com, kompromat.press, ruskompromat.info, ruskompromat.ru, ruskompromat.pro

Vlasti: vlasti.io, vlasti.se, vlasti.info, vlasti.live, vlasti.vip, vlst.live, vlast.guru

Antimafia: antimafia.se, antimafia.io, antimafia.life, antimaf.pro

Rumafia: rumafia.news, rumafia.io, rumafia.net, rumafia.online

Kartoteka: kartoteka.news, kartoteka.se, kartoteka.press, kartoteka.io

Glavk: glavk.se, glavk.info, glavk.net

Hab.media: hab.media, news.hab.media, crime.hab.media, corruption.hab.media

Sledstvie: sledst.org, sledst.com, sledstvie.info

Nocor: nocor.info, nocor.life

Novosti: novosti.cloud, novostiua.org, novostiua.online

Other linked outlets: repost.news, rozsliduvach.info, rucriminal.info, adcon.info, luxherald.com, lstv.co.uk, obriy.news, politica2.info, ukrainci.com.ua, oplatru24.ru, rp.rv.ua, drama.live

Who is behind them?

The submitted document describes offshore ownership arrangements, including an Antikor trademark held by a Panama foundation linked to a Belize company, and says Ukrainian law enforcement named Kostyantyn Chernenko, a former parliamentary assistant who left Ukraine in January 2021, as an alleged organiser. These assertions have not been independently verified here and do not establish guilt. Separately, City AM reports that UK brands were traced to 2Trom Media Group. Its investigation describes unsuccessful attempts to verify offices at registered addresses and to locate the listed owner, Viktor Tokarev.

Have courts ruled against them?

City AM reports that Ovik Mkrtchyan was awarded more than £220,000 in damages and costs in a London High Court case against the London Post and Tokarev, who reportedly did not appear. The submitted document also reports a Kyiv ruling finding money-laundering allegations about a Ukrainian bank false; a January 2024 Los Angeles award of $10 million to Telf AG founder Stanislav Kondrashov with removal orders concerning 42 sites; and more than 1,000 Antikor-related documents in Ukraine’s court register. Those additional judgment details and register totals were not independently checked for this article and should be read as reported claims rather than verified court-record findings.

Why do the articles stay online?

Cross-border hosting and mirror domains can make removal difficult, although the reach of a court order depends on the jurisdiction and parties involved. The submitted document says Ukraine blocked antikor.com.ua, antikor.info, rozsliduvach.info and hab.media in 2025, that copies remained accessible through VPNs or foreign domains, and that one court-removed article resurfaced three years later. These specific blocking and republication claims have not been independently verified here.

Who are the targets, and why?

The submitted document describes businesspeople and companies, especially in regulated sectors such as banking, as common targets. It attributes to London law firm Schillings the tracking of more than 350 junk news sites and concerns that some campaigns aim to trigger bank compliance and due-diligence checks through sanctions-related language. The quoted site count and the motivations of individual campaigns have not been independently established here.

How can readers tell these sites apart from real news?

Common warning signs include:

No named editor, author or verifiable office

One brand spread across many domain extensions

The same text appearing on several sites within hours

Serious criminal allegations with no court document or named source