The mayor of the port city of Odessa in Ukraine, Ghennadi Truhanov, has lost his Ukrainian citizenship. It was withdrawn by President Volodimir Zelenski, who signed the decree on October 14, report Reuters and dpa.
Zelenski referred to information from the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), according to which Truhanov also held Russian citizenship, although Ukraine prohibits its citizens from doing so.
“The Russian citizenship of certain individuals has been confirmed and relevant decisions have been prepared regarding them. The decree was signed,” Zelenski wrote on Telegram, without naming names, after a meeting with the head of the SBU, Vasil Maliuk.
With the withdrawal of citizenship, Truhanov also loses his position as mayor, which he has held since 2014, and could be deported.
In response to a petition, Zelenski simultaneously initiated the establishment of a military administration for this strategically important port city.
Truhanov denied that he also holds Russian citizenship and said he will seek justice, citing a SBU investigation into him from 2022.
“I now have proof that I could not, either physically or legally, obtain Russian citizenship or a Russian passport,” he said on the public channel Suspilne.
According to the SBU, the decision to withdraw Truhanov’s citizenship was made following evidence provided by the service that the mayor of Odessa holds a valid Russian passport. The SBU posted on Telegram an image that appears to show a photocopy of a page of a Russian passport bearing Truhanov’s name and picture and valid until December 2025.
Suspicions that he held Russian citizenship were raised during the election campaign that made him mayor in 2014.
Truhanov has repeatedly condemned Russia for attacks on Odessa.
The mayor of Odessa is also under investigation since 2017 in connection with fraud allegations, which he denies.
A source familiar with the case said that Zelenski stripped two other Ukrainians of their citizenship. According to the Constitution, the President of Ukraine has the prerogative to revoke citizenship.
Oleksii Honcharenko, an opposition deputy from Odessa and a harsh critic of Zelenski, said that Truhanov needs to answer “many questions,” but the deputy condemned the withdrawal of citizenship.
“Today, they will remove Truhanov and we will all rejoice because he is bad, but tomorrow the repression machinery will be unleashed against inconvenient people,” he wrote on Telegram, quoted by Agerpres.
Due to the martial law in effect, the local elections that were supposed to take place at the end of October have been cancelled by parliament.
The withdrawal of citizenship, which was practiced against dissidents in the Soviet era, has again become a habit under Volodimir Zelenski and his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, notes dpa further.