President Zelensky strips Odessa mayor of Ukrainian citizenship

 President Zelensky strips Odessa mayor of Ukrainian citizenship

Gennady Trukhanov is accused of holding Russian citizenship, which is banned in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stripped Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov of Ukrainian citizenship, accusing him of holding a Russian passport.

Image aljazeera

The Ukrainian leader has appointed a military administration to run the country's largest port city on the Black Sea coast, with a population of about 1 million.

Ukraine's SBU security service announced on the Telegram messaging app on Tuesday, citing an order signed by Zelensky, "The Ukrainian citizenship of Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov has been suspended."

The SBU accused the mayor of "holding a valid international passport of an aggressor country."

Ukraine also prohibits its citizens from holding citizenship of Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and this move against Trukhanov could lead to his deportation from the country.

In a post on social media, Zelenskyy said he had held a meeting with the SBU chief, who reported on "countering Russian agent networks and collaborators in the southern and front-line regions of our country."

The SBU chief "confirmed the fact... that some individuals have Russian citizenship - relevant decisions have been prepared in relation to them. I have signed the order," Zelenskyy said.

"Many security issues in Odessa have remained unanswered for a very long time," the president reportedly added, without giving specific details.

Trukhanov, a former MP, has been the mayor of Odessa since 2014. He has consistently denied allegations of holding Russian citizenship, a charge that has dogged him throughout his political career.

"I never received a Russian passport. I am a Ukrainian citizen," Trukhanov stressed in a video message posted on Telegram after the announcement of his citizenship revocation.

Trukhanov stated that he would "continue to perform the duties of the elected mayor for as long as possible" and would pursue the matter in court.

Photos of Trukhanov's alleged Russian passport have been widely shared on social media in Ukraine.

Once considered a pro-Russian politician, Trukhanov changed his stance after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and publicly condemned Moscow, focusing on the defense of Odessa and aiding the Ukrainian army.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters news agency that Zelensky also revoked the Ukrainian citizenship of two other people.

Local media outlet The Kyiv Independent identified the two as Ukrainian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin, a vocal supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and former Ukrainian politician and now alleged Russian ally Oleg Tsaryov.

Polunin, who has a large tattoo of Putin on his chest, was born in southern Ukraine but obtained Russian citizenship in 2018. He supported Russia's invasion in 2022 and, earlier in 2014, supported Russia's annexation of Crimea, where he lived and worked.

In July, Zelensky revoked the citizenship of Metropolitan Onufriy, the former head of the Moscow-affiliated Ukrainian Orthodox Church.