President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the decision to deprive former Odessa mayor Gennady Trukhanov of Ukrainian citizenship has no political basis. The Security Service of Ukraine has sufficient evidence that he has a Russian passport. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this during a meeting with journalists.
According to the president, the SBU received convincing confirmation that Trukhanov has Russian citizenship. In addition, there is information from the registers of the State Border Service that confirms this data.
“There is additional information from the registers of the Border Service, which also coincides with the fact that Trukhanov has Russian citizenship. How many passports are there, which are real, which are fake, who does it – I, to be honest, am not interested”, – Zelensky explained.
The President emphasized that the decision made is not political in nature:
“Is there a 100% fact that he is a citizen of Russia? The SBU and border guards tell me – yes. Based on these facts and other documents, an appropriate decision can be made. This is not a political step. I took an absolutely practical step and believe that it was done in accordance with the law and fairly”.
Zelensky emphasized that as president he must be confident in the reliability of those who lead the government in Odessa:
“Because no one knows what to expect from the “Russians” and how interested they are in Odessa. As president, I must be sure that the people who lead the government there will definitely protect Odessa and will definitely protect it”.
As a reminder, on October 13, a petition appeared on the website of the President of Ukraine calling for the mayor of Odessa to be stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship, which gained over 25,000 signatures in less than a day.
The very next day, Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on the deprivation of Gennady Trukhanov’s citizenship due to his holding a Russian passport. After that, the mayor was removed from office early, and the Odessa City Military Administration was created in the city.
The new administration was headed by Serhiy Lysak, who previously headed the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration. Trukhanov himself denied that he had Russian citizenship, but the SBU published the relevant evidence. Since October 16, the duties of the mayor of Odessa have been temporarily performed by the secretary of the city council, Ihor Koval.
