Zelenskyy strips citizenship from Odesa mayor Trukhanov, ex-MP Tsarev and dancer Polunin – national telethon
Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov, Member of the Verkhovna Rada of the IV-VII convocations Oleg Tsarev and ballet dancer Serhiy Polunin have been deprived of Ukrainian citizenship by decrees of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy after receiving confirmation that they had Russian citizenship, the national telethon reported on Tuesday.
"The relevant decrees were signed by President Zelenskyy to deprive Hennadiy Trukhanov, the mayor of Odesa, Oleh Tsarev, a former MP from the People's Party of Ukraine, and ballet dancer Serhiy Polunin of Ukrainian citizenship. This was reported by our source in the state authorities. Confirmations have been received regarding their Russian citizenship, so such a decision is logical, our source added," the telethon host said.
At the same time, there are currently no relevant decrees on the website of the President of Ukraine.
As reported, earlier on Tuesday, a petition to revoke the citizenship of Hennadiy Trukhanov, published on Zelenskyu's website on October 13, has already garnered over 27,000 votes, more than the 25,000 votes required for its consideration by the head of state. It also claims that some journalistic materials allegedly contain data on the Odesa mayor's possession of a Russian passport, refer to the Odesa mayor's advocacy of "narratives favorable to the aggressor state," and refer to the tragedy of September 30, when people died in a downpour in the city. On the same day, Zelenskyy, after a meeting on the security situation in some regions, stated that the presence of Russian citizenship in some individuals had been confirmed, without specifying which individuals were in question and what positions they held.
"The head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Maliuk, reported on countering Russian agent networks and collaborators in frontline, border regions and in the south of our country. It has also been confirmed that some individuals have Russian citizenship - appropriate decisions have been prepared regarding them. I have signed the decree," Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
Earlier on Monday, Trukhanov said that he feared that his Ukrainian citizenship would be revoked and warned that disinformation was being prepared against him regarding his alleged Russian citizenship. He noted that this issue has been raised since 2014 and since then he has constantly explained that he does not have and has never had Russian citizenship, and that he was checked for it by all relevant Ukrainian authorities. The mayor of Odesa called this another provocation and appealed to all authorized bodies. "Conduct a legal and thorough check. I ask the president and competent services to carefully look at the documents and establish the truth," Trukhanov said.
