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The story of Rodion Miroshnyk traces his path from serving as press secretary to Oleksandr Yefremov of the Party of Regions to holding a diplomatic role in the Russian Federation.
The Russian-Ukrainian war began in 2014 with Russia’s annexation of Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In its hybrid war against Ukraine, Moscow relied on pro-Russian individuals to gain control (including ideological control) over Ukrainian territories. In the case of Luhansk, one such individual was Rodion Miroshnyk, a media manager who held various positions in the Party of Regions for an extended period.
As part of the Media Collaborationists by Detector Media project, we are presenting a dossier on Rodion Miroshnyk.
Rodion Miroshnyk was born in Luhansk and studied at the Taras Shevchenko Luhansk State Pedagogical University, specializing in history, social sciences, and English. He graduated with honors in 1996 (according to the Evocation platform). According to the register of traitors on the CHESNO platform, after university, Miroshnyk worked as an English teacher and also as a director at the municipal enterprise Luga-TV Telecompany. At the same time, he was an editor in the information department of the Luhansk Regional State Administration.
In addition to his studies in Luhansk, Miroshnyk also graduated from the Institute of International Relations at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, where he studied from 1998 to 2003.
Miroshnyk became the press secretary for politician Oleksandr Yefremov in 1997, a position he held until 2005. From 1997-1998, Yefremov served as the deputy head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration, and from 1998–2005, he was the head of the administration. Another influential figure in Luhansk’s local politics during this time was Volodymyr Landik, a Luhansk City Council member from 1998–2006, head of the Party of Regions from 2000–2005, and owner of the local television channel IRTA (now the IRTA Fax information portal, with the NGO Vilniy Skhid [Free East] owning it since 2022).
Oleksandr Yefremov. Source
Oleksandr Yefremov was part of the oligarchic clan capitalism system that took over Ukrainian industry after 1991. As a former Komsomol leader in the Luhansk region, Yefremov became the head of the regional branch of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in the 1990s. Ukrinform reports that he had significant financial resources under his control. Miroshnyk helped shape an information policy that boosted the political influence of Yefremov’s circle and the Party of Regions in Luhansk, according to the Institute of Mass Information.
In the 2000s, Russia began to test the waters for pro-Russian sentiment in Ukraine. This was done through Russian political technologists and media professionals who worked in the management of Ukrainian media and with the Party of Regions. One such figure was Vyacheslav Matveyev, the general producer of the Luhansk Regional Television and Radio Company from 2004 to 2014. According to the Myrotvorets website, Matveyev is an agent of Russian special services. He had experience in the advertising business and consulting the Party of Regions in the 2004-2009 elections. We will return to Matveyev later.
Vyacheslav Matveyev. Source
At a congress in Sievierodonetsk (Luhansk region) on November 28, 2004, the creation of the South-East Ukrainian Autonomous Republic (PiSUAR) was announced. After the first round of the presidential election, a gathering of local and central government representatives in support of Viktor Yanukovych took place. Oleksandr Yefremov, the head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration, who Miroshnyk worked for, was involved in organizing this congress, and Miroshnyk himself also participated (according to Detector Media’s news archive).
In 2004, Miroshnyk became the head of the board of the Luhansk Regional Television and Radio Company. Interestingly, that same year, a closed joint-stock company, LOT, was established, broadcasting the Luhansk Regional Television and Radio Company’s programs. Miroshnyk served as LOT’s head from 2004 to 2006, while Yefremov was dismissed from his role as head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration in early 2005.
Miroshnyk continued to work with members of the Party of Regions and eventually became the press secretary for Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in 2006. That same year, Miroshnyk became the general director of the Luhansk Regional Television and Radio Company. He hosted his own shows, such as Teleformat with Rodion Miroshnyk, in Russian.
In October 2008, Miroshnyk was awarded the title of Honored Journalist of Ukraine. Detector Media has published a separate article on pro-Russian media figures in the temporarily occupied territories who still hold this title.
In particular, Rodion Miroshnyk, along with Russian intelligence operative and political technolgist Vyacheslav Matveyev and Oleh Fetisov (who in 2014 was deputy head of LOT and from 2018 to 2022 served as the “minister” of communication and mass media in the occupation administration of the Russian-controlled part of Luhansk region), produced the so-called “documentary” Three Sisters in 2010. The film promoted one of the core historical myths of Russian propaganda—the “triune nature” of Belarusians, Ukrainians, and Russians. The emphasis was placed on the religious aspect, advancing the myth of Moscow’s supposed leadership in protecting the Orthodox population of Ukraine and Belarus.
Oleh Fetisov. Source
In September 2011, Miroshnyk became a Candidate of Sciences in history from the National Pedagogical Drahomanov University. The topic of his dissertation was Internet Resources on the History of Ukraine in the Global Computer Network: Formation, Information Content, and Issues (1991-2010). Why did Miroshnyk need this degree? At the time, he was a member of the Luhansk Regional Council from the Party of Regions and also deputy head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration on humanitarian policy, so an academic degree provided additional financial benefits.
Miroshnyk was a member of the executive committee of the Luhansk regional branch of the Party of Regions. During the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych (2010–2014), Miroshnyk infamously called Ukrainians an “inferior race” during his 2012 speech when discussing the Kivalov-Kolesnichenko language law. On June 5, 2012, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the Law “On the Principles of State Language Policy,” which gave preference to so-called regional languages in areas where more than 10% of the population spoke them. The law was aimed at accelerating the Russification of Ukraine.
By early 2014, Miroshnyk was head of the Luhansk Regional Television and Radio Company, the main state-run regional media outlet. According to testimonies from employees at the time, including Valentyna Troyan in an interview with Detector Media, Miroshnyk created editorial guidelines on how to cover the events of Euromaidan, instructing to deliver emotionless coverage of both sides.
Miroshnyk played a key role in supporting the Russian occupation of the Luhansk region, particularly in helping Russians gain control over the media.
According to an investigation by Intent regarding the events in Luhansk in the spring of 2014, Miroshnyk, as a deputy of the Luhansk Regional Council, voted on March 2, 2014, for an appeal to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to declare the central authorities in Kyiv illegitimate. This decision was made under pressure from pro-Russian forces surrounding the regional council building. The text of the appeal listed other deputies who voted in favor, including Leonard Svidovskov, who later worked for the Russian invaders and is now the chief art director of the state television and radio company and honorary chairman of the Journalists’ Union in the occupied part of Luhansk region.
Luhansk had three main TV channels: the state-run Luhansk Regional Television and Radio Company, headed by Miroshnyk; the private IRTA, owned at the time by former Party of Regions MP Volodymyr Landik; and the municipal Luhansk Cable Television (LKT), which ceased operations on July 10, 2014, due to danger to its employees. According to a report from the Russian service of the BBC, Russian invaders used the equipment from these three channels to create the propaganda channel Lugansk 24.
In a Radio Liberty article dated March 10, 2014, Miroshnyk was quoted evaluating the Euromaidan and its consequences for Luhansk. “We’ll figure it out ourselves, without any Putin. Crimea? Crimea will be the territory of Ukraine. I think it will vote for autonomy. The country is now shaken up by the Maidan, and it is to blame, although the Maidan, if you exclude nationalism, is positive. We will fix everything, we need to expand local self-government, but this should be done when the situation calms down. Pro-Russian radicals are a reaction to Kyiv.”
In an interview with Babel, Ukrainian MP Iryna Herashchenko commented on Ukraine’s legislation regarding collaborationism, noting that Miroshnyk compiled lists of pro-Ukrainian journalists, who were later tortured by the Russians.
On April 9, 2014, Ukraine’s National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting dismissed Miroshnyk, and his deputy Vitaliy Harkusha became the acting head. According to an article by Denys Kazansky in Ukrainian Week, Miroshnyk was one of the organizers of pro-Russian rallies in Luhansk before fleeing the city.
In January 2024, in an interview with the Russian outlet Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda, Rodion Miroshnyk himself admitted to being one of the leaders of the pro-Russian rallies in Luhansk in early March 2014. He also repeated common Russian propaganda claims regarding the Donbas, asserting that the demands for the Russian language were supposedly “not heard” by Kyiv in early 2014. Moreover, he suggested that the West had been pushing Ukraine toward its sphere of influence after 1991.
According to the publication Farvater, by the summer of 2014, Miroshnyk was in Moscow while his wife, Olha Mokhova, was in Kharkiv. Mokhova also worked at the Luhansk Regional Television and Radio Company starting in 1996, progressing from a presenter to deputy general director on television (under her husband, Miroshnyk). After 2014, Mokhova, like Miroshnyk, became a collaborationist. She is currently involved in the project Tipichnaya Novorossiya [Typical New Russia], run by Russian propagandist Kyrylo Vyshinskyi, the former editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti Ukraine.
Olha Mokhova. Source
Journalist Oleksandr Bilokobylskyi from the Luhansk-based newspaper Realnaya Gazeta recalls in an interview with the Institute of Mass Information how, after being released from a basement in Luhansk where he was held for 13 days in September 2014, Miroshnyk greeted him, saying, “Sasha, we were so worried about you! How are you?” Bilokobylskyi responded that he was fine and subsequently left occupied Luhansk to continue his investigative work from Ukrainian-controlled territory.
In December 2014, Miroshnyk became an “adviser” on internal affairs and “deputy head” to the militant leader of occupied Luhansk, Igor Plotnitsky. According to research by the Institute of Mass Information regarding the media situation in the Luhansk region, Miroshnyk actively participated in developing the Law “On Media” approved by the Russian administration of the occupied part of the Luhansk region on December 30, 2014.
Igor Plotnitsky. Source
After seizing control of local media in Luhansk, the Russian occupation authorities created a network of propaganda outlets. One of these was LuganskInformTsentr. According to an investigation by Realnaya Gazeta, Vyacheslav Matveyev (callsign Akademik) acted as a Moscow-based curator from the Russian FSB, overseeing information policy in occupied Luhansk. Matveyev worked alongside Miroshnyk to shape the propaganda narratives in the region.
Between 2014 and 2017, a conflict arose between the Russian Presidential Administration, led by Vladislav Surkov, and the FSB over control of the occupation administration in Luhansk. This power struggle culminated in a change of leadership among the Luhansk militants, with Plotnitsky fleeing to Moscow at the end of 2017, and Leonid Pasechnik, an FSB appointee and former SBU officer, taking over.
In 2015, Miroshnyk joined the Trilateral Contact Group as a representative of the occupied Luhansk region, engaging in negotiations for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. He remained involved until early 2022.
Miroshnyk has been invited to lecture not only in Russian media outlets but also in universities. In December 2016, he spoke to students of the Philosophy Department at Moscow State University about strategies for promoting the implementation of the Minsk agreements on social media.
In September 2017, the Luhansk regional prosecutor’s office put Miroshnyk on a wanted list. He is suspected under Part 1 of Article 109 (intentional actions aimed at aiding and abetting the violent overthrow of the constitutional order and the seizure of state power), Part 2 of Article 110 (intentional actions aimed at changing the boundaries of the territory and state border of Ukraine in violation of the procedure established by the Constitution of Ukraine), Part 1 of Article 258-3 (participation in the activities of a terrorist organization) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
After Russia legitimized the occupation of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions by recognizing their “independence” in February 2022, Moscow established “diplomatic relations” with these territories. In May 2022, Miroshnyk became the “ambassador” of the occupied Luhansk region to Russia, a role he held until November 2022.
In August 2023, Miroshnyk was appointed “ambassador-at-large of the Russian Foreign Ministry for crimes of the Kyiv regime,” where he monitors alleged “crimes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces” against the “population of the Donbas.”
On June 24, 2024, the European Union imposed sanctions against Miroshnyk, stating that he “is supporting and implementing actions and policies which undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.” Prior to this, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council had imposed 10-year sanctions against him in January 2023, and on July 9, 2024, Switzerland expanded sanctions against Russian individuals and entities, including Miroshnyk.
On August 13, 2024, Miroshnyk was one of the speakers at an Arria formula meeting (informal expert discussions for UN Security Council decision-making). Other participants included Maksim Grigoryev, head of the International Public Tribunal for Ukraine, Oleg Soldat, associate professor at the University of Banja Luka, and Vasily Nebenzya, head of Russia’s Mission to the UN. The meeting, titled “Crimes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Nationalists,” was one of many such events organized by Russia, particularly within UN structures, aimed at promoting a negative image of Ukraine to the world.
Miroshnyk runs a personal Telegram channel where he shares excerpts from his speeches on Russian propaganda platforms and statements regarding the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation database describes Rodion Miroshnyk as follows: “Russian propagandist: frequent invited guest and expert on Ukraine issues on Vladimir Solovyov’s talk shows on Russia 1 and Norkin and Trushkin’s show ‘Mesto Vstrechi’ (‘Meeting Place’) on NTV.”
Read more: Ten Years of Propaganda: How the Russians Seized Donetsk Media
