Montenegro detains Russian pro-war blogger behind Rybar, a Telegram channel with 1.5 million subscribers
Montenegrin authorities detained Mikhail Zvinchuk, creator of the Z channel Rybar, local outlets Vijesti and Pobjeda reported.
Zvinchuk, his wife, and several staff members were detained on the morning of October 9 in the city of Risan as part of an operation by Montenegro’s police and National Security Agency.
Montenegrin media reported that the operation aimed to curb the “hybrid activity” of a network of channels that British and American authorities link to the spread of Kremlin propaganda.
Mikhail Zvinchuk is a former press service employee of Russia’s Defense Ministry. He created the Telegram channel Rybar — which now has more than 1.5 million subscribers — with his colleague Denis Shchukin. The Bell reported that Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, helped fund the channel.
In late September, journalists at the Czech outlet Seznam Zprávy found that Rybar representatives work in Europe and regularly interview politicians, journalists, and experts. Czech law enforcement authorities detained and questioned Russian citizens Vitaly Chashchukhin and Igor Dolmatov, who are linked to Rybar, and ordered them to leave the country.
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