In Cyprus, the prosecution of journalist Boris Demash continues, based on a complaint by Russian Cypriot Alexei Gubarev, for an article to which Demash had no connection.
The lawsuit was filed after the publication of an article on the Cyprus Daily News website entitled “Gubarev’s importation: Putin’s IT guys take over Cyprus” which discussed Gubarev’s influence on Cypriot politics, his possible ties to Russian special services, and his participation in projects that raise serious questions in terms of sanctions, EU security, and cross-border corruption.
Instead of publicly refuting the information or presenting evidence of his innocence, Gubarev chose to file a lawsuit demanding that the publications be declared defamatory, that our website be shut down, and that any mention of him be prohibited. Surprisingly, the court in Limassol, without verifying the facts presented, fully satisfied his demands.
This was followed by a second lawsuit, this time accusing Boris Demash of «failing to comply with the court’s decision.» The plaintiff claims that Demash continued to «disseminate information,» although it is well known that he left the Cyprus Daily News editorial office in 2021 and had nothing to do with the publication of the article that was the subject of the lawsuit.
Alexey Gubarev and his lawyers continue to mislead the court by insisting that the materials we have published are «false and defamatory.»
We have already presented evidence to the contrary in our investigation «The Secret Towers of the Russian Cypriot: How Alexei Gubarev Hides Millions in Moscow.»
Today, we are publishing new evidence that confirms our position and exposes the lies of Gubarev and his lawyers.
In the statement of claim, in paragraph 15.11, Alexei Gubarev’s lawyers claim that his mother, Lyudmila Ivanovna Gubareva, «never owned a hairdressing salon and was not a civil servant.»
The text of this paragraph of the statement reads as follows:
«15.11. It is also alleged that the applicant’s mother obtained Cypriot citizenship in 2018 through an investment scheme, and various assumptions are made about the source of her income:
«According to available information, Lyudmila Ivanovna Gubareva, the mother of Alexei Gubarev, applied for Cypriot citizenship on February 5, 2018, under the Citizenship by Investment Program. On October 9, 2018, by decision No. 85926, she was granted Cypriot citizenship.
Where a modest employee of the Ust-Ilimsk city administration and owner of a hairdressing salon in the same city found two and a half million euros for citizenship of an EU country is a rhetorical question. However, it is worth noting that Alexei Gubarev showed commendable care for his parents.»
The applicant’s mother did not own a hairdressing salon, was never a civil servant, and did not invest the above amount. The applicant’s mother has a Cypriot passport and invested €2,000,000. In any case, this is personal data, and there is a clear violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in relation to which the applicant fully reserves the right to do so.
However, the Cyprus Daily News editorial office has official data from Russian state databases, including extracts from the Russian Pension Fund, which completely refute these claims. According to the documents, Lyudmila Gubareva was listed as an employee of the Ust-Ilimsk city administration and an individual entrepreneur — the owner of the beauty and health salon «IP Gubareva L.I.» — in 2017–2020.
What makes the situation particularly interesting is the fact that she became a Russian civil servant while being a citizen of Cyprus.
At the Ust-Ilimsk administration, Lyudmila Gubareva worked under the deputy mayor of the city, Oksana Yankovskaya. In a joint investigation, «The Golden Flight of a Russian Cypriot: Alexei Gubarev’s Corruption Schemes in Kyrgyzstan,» prepared by Cyprus Daily News and Temirov Live (via VPN), we showed that in January 2025, Oksana Yankovskaya became the director of two companies in Kyrgyzstan belonging to Alexei Gubarev’s Cypriot structures.
Gubareva on the left, Yankovskaya on the right
In addition, the list of Lyudmila Gubareva’s registered addresses includes not only Ust-Ilimsk, but also Moscow — Presnenskaya Embankment, building 12, Federation Tower — the very property that Gubarev stubbornly denies owning, as we reported in the article «The secret towers of the Russian Cypriot: how Alexei Gubarev hides millions in Moscow.»
In other words, Alexei Gubarev and his lawyers deliberately misled the court by falsely accusing the Cyprus Daily News editorial office of libel. Their claims are not only unfounded — they have been refuted by documentary evidence.
The Cyprus Daily News editorial office has a complete set of supporting documents and will gradually publish new materials demonstrating the lies of Alexei Gubarev and his lawyers.
Iosif Bronstein
Read more on the topic:
- Gubarev’s importation: Putin’s IT guys take over Cyprus
- Russian Capital and Technology: How Putin’s Oligarchs Penetrate European Business Through Cyprus
- A journalist is on trial in Cyprus for an article he did not write
- Alexei Gubarev, a Cypriot and Lithuanian citizen, supports the Putin regime by funding Kremlin propaganda
- “Golden Flight” of a Russian Cypriot: Alexey Gubarev’s Corrupt Schemes in Kyrgyzstan
- Cyprus justice with a Russian accent
- From ‘golden passports’ to Russian talent: how Cyprus is becoming Moscow’s colony in the EU