Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov has denied holding Russian citizenship and called the decision to strip him of Ukrainian citizenship a "falsification". He says he will file a lawsuit in court.

Source: Trukhanov in a comment to Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne

Details: Trukhanov claimed he never obtained Russian passports or travelled abroad for that purpose. The Odesa mayor said that border-crossing data for 2015-2016 confirm this, as do previous checks by state authorities.

Trukhanov said that in 2022 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed the Security Service of Ukraine and other agencies to verify the claim, and "they found neither Russian citizenship nor passports" in his name.

He also stated that the "passport" cited by those behind the decision contains spelling errors in his surname but "no one even looked into it". Therefore, he plans to take legal action.

Quote: "Unfortunately, it is what it is. I will defend myself – I will go to court. If the court cannot resolve it, I will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights… This is already a case of such arbitrariness that simply should not happen."

Background:

• On 14 October, Zelenskyy said he had signed a decree concerning "individuals [who] hold Russian citizenship", without disclosing any names.
• However, Suspilne confirmed via government sources that Trukhanov was among those concerned.
• Hennadii Trukhanov has served as Odesa mayor since 2014, when the first reports emerged alleging that he held Russian citizenship. Under Ukraine's law on local self-government, loss of citizenship is grounds for the early termination of a mayor's powers.

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