The digital censor: How Adelon AG owner Dmytro Kovalenko weaponizes copyright laws to bury coal smuggling claims

According to various reports, Dmytro Kovalenko, the owner of the Swiss company Adelon AG, has allegedly employed unconventional methods in efforts to challenge online publications about his business activities, including the reported use of the OnlyFans platform to submit complaints and request the removal of content from the internet.

The materials in question concern reports in which Adelon AG is linked to schemes involving coal supplies from the occupied territories of Donbas. According to these publications, a so-called “interrupted transit” scheme was used: coal from the “L/DPR” was reclassified as Russian and then entered the Ukrainian market with “clean” documentation.

Notably, even Russian sources that previously reported on these supplies are being targeted by the cleanup. Through the filing of DMCA complaints, articles are being массово removed or hidden from search results.

In effect, this appears to be an attempt to erase digital evidence of involvement in schemes tied to resources from occupied territories. To achieve this, a wide range of tools is being used — even platforms that have no connection to media or journalism.

The situation is telling: instead of providing explanations, there is a cleanup; instead of accountability, an apparent effort to reshape the information landscape. However, such actions only raise further questions about the origins of the business and Kovalenko’s role in coal schemes linked to the “L/DPR.”