Cousin of the Director of the State Bureau of Investigation spent years spreading Russian propaganda on the Murayev and Medvedchuk channels — “Slidstvo.Info” — Center of Journalistic Investigations

Rostyslav Sukhachov, the cousin of the director of the State Bureau of Investigation Oleksiy Sukhachov, 17 years worked on the channels of Andriy Derkach, Yevhen Murayev and Viktor Medvedchuk, whose activities in Ukraine were later banned due to their pro-Russian rhetoric, and whose owners were convicted of treason or suspected of it. Unlike his former colleagues, who also received suspicions, Rostyslav Sukhachov’s work in media drew no public attention from Ukrainian security services.

This is stated in the material by “Slidstvo.Info.”

Indeed, in 2004 year the now 44-year-old Rostyslav Sukhachov worked at TV company “Era,” which is linked to former deputy Andriy Derkach, who was convicted of treason.

Later, until December 2018 year, he worked at the NewsOne channel, and afterwards at the channel “Our” of Yevhen Murayev, who was reported to be under suspicion for justifying Russian aggression.

And before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, from 2021 year and at least until January 2022 year, Rostyslav Sukhachov worked as a host on the ZIK channel, associated with Viktor Medvedchuk, who is suspected of treason.

The specialized outlet “Detector Media” repeatedly mentioned Rostyslav Sukhachov in materials about the spread of Russian propaganda in Ukrainian media. He spoke about the harm of the Revolution of Dignity, complained about Ukraine’s military cooperation with the United States, and even stated that the coronavirus is being spread on purpose in regions where voters support “OPZZh.”

In “Slidstvo.Info” it is noted that there is no open data about any suspicion of Rostyslav Sukhachov due to his pro-Russian statements, although similar suspicions were received by his colleagues on the channels, such as Diana Panchenko or Nazar Diorditsa (alias Max Nazarov).

At the request to the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police to clarify this information for project journalists, they replied that this is data with restricted access.

Rostyslav Sukhachov himself also ignored journalists’ questions and did not respond to messages or calls.

Reminder:

At the beginning of July 2026 the Pechersk District Court in Kyiv prohibited “Slidstvo.Info” and the Civil Liberties Program (Civics) from publishing material about the property, deals and investments of Kharkiv businessman Oleksandr Sukhachov, the brother of the director of the DSB Oleksiy Sukhachov. After that eight Ukrainian media simultaneously published an investigation about his 143 real estate objects. Media that joined the “Initiative 143” did so in solidarity with their colleagues. Journalists call the court’s decision an act of outright censorship.