Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stripped the mayor of the port city of Odessa, Gennadiy Trukhanov, of his Ukrainian citizenship. 'The Russian citizenship of several individuals has also been confirmed, and corresponding decisions have been prepared. The decree has been signed,' Zelensky announced on Telegram on Tuesday, after a meeting with intelligence chief Vasyl Malyuk, without naming names.
According to Ghana News Agency, shortly afterwards, the SBU intelligence service confirmed that the revocation of citizenship affected the mayor of Odessa. An image of the Russian passport allegedly belonging to him was published, which is valid until December. It cannot be independently verified whether the image is of a genuine document.
Trukhanov himself has repeatedly rejected the accusation. 'I have never had a Russian passport,' he told public television after the revocation of his Ukrainian citizenship became known. Trukhanov intends to take legal action against the decision, citing a security service investigation carried out into him in 2022.
With the loss of his citizenship, the elected city leader is also effectively removed from office. In response to a petition, Zelensky simultaneously initiated the creation of a military administration for the strategically important port city. Trukhanov, who has repeatedly condemned Russia for its numerous attacks on Odessa, has been mayor of the metropolis since 2014. Suspicions of Russian citizenship were raised during the election campaign at that time.
Due to the current martial law, the local elections scheduled for the end of October have been cancelled. The powers of all local representatives have been confirmed by a parliamentary decision until the end of the war. The revocation of citizenship, which was practised against dissidents in Soviet times, became common again under Zelensky and his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko.
