On Friday, in the US, the FBI , arrested American Jack Hanick , who is being investigated for a connection with Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyef. Hanick was for over fifteen years a key executive of the American network FOX and indeed appears to have been linked to Konstantin Malofeyef. Malofeyef, in turn, is an apparent millionaire businessman, with far-right views (very similar to Adonis Georgiades and Velopoulos), who had links to the Kremlin, Crimean separatists and the Church. Konstantin Malofeyef had privileged relations with the Vatopedi Monastery.
According to the FBI investigation, Konstantin Malofeyef was implementing a Russian plan to infiltrate the Balkans through the media. When they say penetration in the Balkans, the question is not whether there were media promoting pro-Russian positions (that is their right) but whether these media were financed with black Russian money. So far we have cases that are also a basis of investigation for the Americans.
Let's go first to the facts. In 2015, the shipowner Yannis Karageorgis attempted to create a network of cooperation (and not a channel as it is written) of local channels from all over Greece. This network was called Hellasnet and was organized at the beginning by the well-known journalist (former News Director of ANT1 and Alpha) Yannis Papoutsanis. At some point, Yannis Papoutsanis invited me and the owner of HellasNet, Karageorgis, to cooperate as a person with television experience, which I did. Shortly after Yannis Papoutsanis left and eventually I took over to coordinate the network's Information Department. The owner of HellasNet had long-standing relations with the Mitsotakis family and especially with Dora Bakoyannis.
Well-known journalists, such as Sotiris Polyzos from the TRT Thessaly, Elena Sokoou (current press spokesperson of the Southwest for regional media), Kostas Argyros, Valia Bazou and many others, worked in this network.
A member of the Board of Directors of HellasNet, was also the person under investigation today for his links with Konstantin Malofeyef, Mr. Jack Hanick.
But the owner Yannis Karageorgis had relations with Konstantin Malofeyef, which he did not hide. Malofeyef became his best man at a lavish wedding in Russia. In February 2015, the German newspaper De Zeit, for the first time wrote that Konstantin Malofeyef, was implementing a plan to infiltrate the Russian factor in the Balkans. It even wrote about his relations with Karageorgis and provided the guest list of the Karageorgis and Konstantin Malofeyef couple's glamorous wedding in Russia, which had been leaked by an email from a Russian embassy official. Among the names listed by De Zeit were those of Panos Kamenos and his wife, while high guests included Theo Roussopoulos and Mara Zacharea. Other guests included shipowners, journalists Irini Nikolopoulou, Tasos Bouras, Rallis Nikoleta , the Vakakis couple and others.
A few months after the start of the cooperation with Hellasnet , the operation of the information sector was terminated because it did not have the desired results for the owner. The journalists left and HellasNet operated with programming from the regional channels.
On Saturday morning, Adonis Georgiades, in a post on twitter , after announcing Hanick's arrest, attempted to portray me as being associated with Russian money (yes, and Russian money) and left vile insinuations in many other posts. Here is what he wrote:
- «Hanick was arrested yesterday by the FBI for helping Russian oligarch Malofeyef to break sanctions and set up media and Russian propaganda. Hanick came to Greece in 2015-2016 and created HellasNet as a board member. He got a nationwide license and put Kostas Vaxevanis as director.»
«Kostas Vaxevanis shows a real irritation with the FBI's revelations about Russian black money. And of course he knows that if he is accused of being connected with it, no more international awards and everything. His headline in today's Documento admits guilt.»
«Now the question that remains to be answered by the «reputable» Kostas Vaxevanis is: is his support for Putin, through his constant criticism of Greece's clear position in favour of Ukraine, as we read in Documento, due to ideology or is it a professional issue...»
Adonis Georgiades has criminal responsibilities for what he writes, which will soon be attributed to him. But that is my own business. What he does as a genuine far-rightist is to twist reality and to smear the one he chooses with insinuations based on lies. First of all Hanick did not create HellaNet which is known to be a business venture of Yannis Karageorgis. Board member Hanick is a board member and does not “create” as Georgiadis writes. Also HellasNET did not even get a nationwide license because it was not a channel. It is also known which channels have a nationwide license. But the bottom line is that Georgiades is jumping over the owner whom he does not name and attributing by implication Adonisian filth to me as an employee. I imagine that anyone who worked there, such as the Regional Media Officer Elena Sokoou, will also have some responsibility and a connection with black money. It's like saying that if a canal boss is caught with drugs, then everyone who works at the canal, from the manager to the bailiff, will be responsible for it.
Of course the posts of Adonis Georgiades, reproduced by Christos Raptis and Kourtakis, hiding of course behind his parliamentary immunity.
At noon on Saturday, Yannis Kourtakis met with the Secretary of ND, Pavlos Marinakis, at an ouzo bar in Kolonaki, to coordinate further actions. Various colleagues call me and assure me that Georgiades' real target is not me, but Theodoros Roussopoulos whom he knows he will implicate with Konstantin Malofeyef because of the publications that will follow. As far as I am concerned, I am interested in the target of the vagrant. I am interested in vagrancy and dirt. That's why we will have a sequel.
And after the dirt, let's get down to the absolutely clear. The invasion of Ukraine is a crime. Putin is committing a crime against Ukraine, humanity and international legitimacy. I wrote it from the first day of the invasion, without dwelling on vague and perhaps convenient «anti-war» formulations. Putin is committing a crime by following the practice of the Great Powers playing dice on the backs of the world and following the doctrine of «our borders are where our interests are». This doctrine was not first formulated by Putin, but by those who today call him (and rightly so) a criminal, but because it suits their interests. They have committed the same crime in various parts of the world. There can be no set-off between the crimes (well done since they have also committed crimes) but no sudden blindness either.
I have also expressed the view that the war crisis that exists in Europe is not dangerous because there is a war on our doorstep and it threatens our future, but because it can also change the liberal and democratic culture of Europe. Phenomena of hysteria, pogroms and medieval practices are suddenly developing like warriors of evil and threatening reason and peace, just as much as war. In Greece, Minister Mendoni has banned Swan Lake and Tchaikovsky as a contribution to this neo-macartelism. The world cannot move forward if it burns books, works of art and incriminates peoples. The last time this formula was followed, we had 50 million dead and a world that is still haunted today.
My position will be expressed steadfastly alongside the views of thousands of journalists, artists and public figures from all over the world who are concerned that bans and restraints are pushing us into an intellectual quagmire.
My opposition to Putin was not expressed on the occasion of the war. I have spoken out about the persecution of Russian journalists by Putin's undemocratic regime, such as the Nobel Prize-winning journalist Dmitry Muratov and the activists imprisoned for their views. I have also written that I am worried that Greece will become a country where democracy will take the form given to it by Erdogan, Putin or Orban. And now that we're done with the straightforward stuff, let's get down to the dirty stuff. Just for the sake of history, let me remind you that in January 2019, Documento revealed the role of Russian agents in Greece (posing as diplomats) who were trying to sabotage the Prespa agreement because they thought it served the US and its plans. . The agents who were deported were trying to buy off Church officials and even politicians to create a «Macedonian movement». Eventually, this movement grew when Kyriakos Mitsotakis decided to become a Macedonian gladiator in order to climb to power.
Costas Vaxevanis
