Vakhtang Kipiani ( ka, ვახტანგ ყიფიანი, ; born April 1, 1971) is a Ukrainian journalist, historian, and

opinion journalist Opinion journalism is journalism that makes no claim of objectivity. Although distinguished from advocacy journalism in several ways, both forms feature a subjective viewpoint, usually with some social or political purpose. Common examples inclu ...

the most famous for his book "The Case of Vasyl Stus" that won the first place in the "List of 30 iconic books of Ukrainian Independence" compiled by

Ukrainian Book Institute The Ukrainian Book Institute is a state institution under the Ministry of Culture (Ukraine), Ministry of Culture of Ukraine. It is designed to shape state policy in the book industry, promote book reading in Ukraine, support book publishing, encou ...

and

Ministry of Culture and Information Policy The Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications (MCSC), known previously as Ministry of Culture and Information Policy (MCIP), is the main state authority in the system of central government of Ukraine responsible for ensuring the informatio ...

of Ukraine with help of voting of qualified voters in 2021. He is the editor-in-chief of the newspaper

Istorychna Pravda ''Istorychna Pravda'' () is a Ukrainian online publication on sociology, history, and science. Its founder and editor-in-chief is Vakhtang Kipiani; its editors are Pavlo Solodko, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Volodymyr Birchak, Ihor Bigun, Vitaliy Skalsky ...

(from September 2010), the head of the Museum-Archive of the Press and lecturer in

Ukrainian Catholic University The Ukrainian Catholic University () is a Catholicism, Catholic university in Lviv, Ukraine, affiliated with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) was the first :Catholic universities and colleges, Catholic ...

and in

National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy The National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy ( NaUKMA, ), colloquially known as Mohylianka (), is a highly ranked national state-sponsored research university located in a historic section of Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is bilingual in U ...

. He is a recipient of

Shevchenko National Prize Shevchenko National Prize (; also ''Shevchenko Award'') is the highest state prize of Ukraine for works of culture and arts awarded since 1961. It is named after the inspirer of Ukrainian national revival Taras Shevchenko. It is one of the five ...

in journalism and a

Honored Journalist of Ukraine The Honored Journalist (also translated as The Merited Journalist of Ukraine, ) is an honorary title bestowed by Ukraine (before 1991 by the Ukrainian SSR) for "vital contribution" in the country's journalism. The title is awarded by the Presiden ...

(from 2005).

Biography

Vakhtang Kipiani was born in 1971 in Tbilisi, Georgia (then part of Soviet Union). He graduated from the V.О. Sukhomlynskyi National University of

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( ), also known as Nikolaev ( ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and a hromada (municipality) in southern Ukraine. Mykolaiv is the Administrative centre, administrative center of Mykolaiv Raion (Raions of Ukraine, district) and Myk ...

. He was a participant of the

Revolution on Granite The Revolution on Granite () was a student-led protest campaign that took place primarily in Kyiv and Western Ukraine in October 1990.

in Ukraine in 1990. From 1990 when he started to write for the newspaper of

People's Movement of Ukraine The People's Movement of Ukraine () is a Ukraine, Ukrainian political party and one of the first Opposition (politics), opposition parties in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Ukraine.The first officially registered opposition politica ...

he worked as journalist in

Ukrayina Moloda ''Ukraina Moloda'' () is a daily Ukrainian-language newspaper based in Kyiv with a circulation of 99,000. It is published by State Company "Presa Ukrayiny". In the beginning of 2018 the editorial staff of the newspaper was asked to vacate its le ...

Novyi Kanal Novyi Kanal ( , ) is a Ukrainian television channel. The channel is a part of the Starlight Media broadcasting group, created by Viktor Pinchuk. History The channel was launched on July 15, 1998. At first, it was broadcast only in Kyiv, but ...

Kievskiye Vedomosti The ''Kievskiye Vedomosti'' () was a local daily Russian-language newspaper, based in Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it st ...

1+1 (TV channel) 1+1 () is a national Ukrainian language TV channel owned by 1+1 Media Group. It has the second-largest geographic reach of any channel in Ukraine, covering 95% of Ukraine's territory. History 1+1 was founded in August 1995, headed by its origina ...

Focus Focus (: foci or focuses) may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in East Australia Film *Focus (2001 film), ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based on the Arthur Miller novel *Focus (2015 ...

as editor-in-chief,

Inter (TV channel) Inter () is a Ukrainian television channel. It covers 99.7 percent of Ukraine's territory.According to the channel's own information According to the ''Kyiv Post,'' it is among the most-watched television channels in Ukraine. Since February 26 ...

as editor-in-chief of Velyki Ukraïntsi,

TVi (TV channel) TVi () was a Ukrainian TV channel that began broadcasting in 2008; it was widely seen as Ukraine's only independent TV channel.UA:First as moderator of the election debates of

2010 Ukrainian presidential election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

and from 2013 and up to now is a host of a TV program "Historical Truth with Vakhtang Kipiani" that from 2019 is being broadcast on

Espreso TV Espreso TV () is an Internet television station in Ukraine that started to operate in November 2013. Espreso TV enabled the Euromaidan protests to be broadcast worldwide. Ownership The channel is owned by the media company Goldberry LLC.

. Since 2010, Vakhtang Kipiani has lectured at the

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and then also at the

. Kipiani studies the history of the informal press in the former Soviet Union, gathering examples of local newspapers in Museum-Archive of the Press. He is also researching manifestations of extremism in media.

The case of Vasyl Stus

In 2019, Vakhtang Kipiani's book "The case of Vasyl Stus" was published. The book evolves around the criminal prosecution of a Ukrainian poet, translator, literary critic, journalist, and an active member of the Ukrainian dissident movement

Vasyl Stus Vasyl Semenovych Stus (; January 6, 1938 – September 4, 1985) was a Ukrainian poet, translator, literary critic, journalist, and an active member of the Ukrainian dissident movement. For his political convictions, his works were banned by th ...

. It mentions one of the most prominent Ukrainian pro-Russian politicians –

Viktor Medvedchuk Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk (; born 7 August 1954), also known as Viktor Vladimirovich Medvedchuk (), is a former Ukrainian lawyer, business oligarch, and politician who has lived in exile in Russia since September 2022 after being handed ...

. In 1980, during the final court hearings in the case against Stus, Medvedchuk served as Stus’ attorney. However, he did nothing to defend Stus and even admitted his alleged guilt. Medvedchuk also served as an attorney in cases against other Ukrainian dissidents, doing as little as in the Stus case. Medvedchuk filed a lawsuit against Vakhtang Kipiani and a Darnytskyi District Court of Kyiv banned publishing of the book. It caused huge demand for the book, it reached more than 100 thousand copies that was a record number for non-fiction book written in Ukrainian. Then on October 19, 2020, the Kyiv Court of Appeals overturned the decision of the Darnytsia District Court of Kyiv to ban the distribution of the book. In October 2021 "The Case of Vasyl Stus" won the first place the all-Ukrainian informational and educational action "30 iconic books of our Independence" dedicated to the

30th anniversary of Ukrainian independence The 30th anniversary of Ukrainian independence () was a celebration of Ukrainian independence held from 22 to 24 August 2021, marking 30 years of Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union. As part of the celebrations, more than 150 events we ...

that gathered 267,815 votes cast by 34,797 Ukrainians. On 24 March 2022 the

Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (), also known in English as the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), is the military intelligence service of the Ukrainian government. It is an agency of the Minist ...

reported that "The Case of Vasyl Stus" was removed from libraries in three Ukrainian Russian-occupied towns during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

Controversy

On February 26, 2025, Vakhtang Kipiani published a post on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

containing a death threat against

Sławomir Mentzen Sławomir Jerzy Mentzen (; born 20 November 1986) is a Polish politician, entrepreneur and tax advisor. He placed third in the 2025 Polish presidential election. He serves as the chairman of the libertarian political party New Hope and as one ...

, a candidate for the presidency of Poland, who had visited

. In the post, Kipiani suggested that Mentzen could share the fate of

Bronisław Pieracki Bronisław Wilhelm Pieracki (28 May 1895 – 15 June 1934) was a Polish military officer and politician. Life As a member of the Polish Legions in World War I, Pieracki took part in the Polish-Ukrainian War (1918–1919). He later supported J� ...

, a Polish politician assassinated in 1934 by Ukrainian nationalists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kipiani, Vakhtang 1971 births Living people Journalists from Tbilisi People of the Revolution on Granite Ukrainian journalists Ukrainian people of Georgian descent Ukrainian people of Armenian descent