Zelenski just signed the presidential decree. The uncomfortable mayor of Odessa was left without Ukrainian citizenship but insists that he stays in office

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski withdrew on Tuesday, by presidential decree, the citizenship of the mayor of Odessa on the grounds that he also owned a Russian passport, a decision that puts an end to the mandate of a controversial figure that led the port city of the Black Sea for 11 years, writes Reuters.

Ghennadi Truhanov, 60 years old, a chosen official, said he would take the case in court, denying that he would have a Russian passport and insisting that he remains mayor. Ukrainian officials are forbidden to hold double citizenship.

In his speech on Tuesday night, addressed to the nation, Zelenski said he would soon appoint a person to run a new military administration, understanding that he intends to replace Truhanov.

“Too many security problems in Odessa have been unresolved for too long,” the Ukrainian leader argued.

These statements reiterated the comments made last week, in which Zelenski accused the “local leaders” in Odessa of not making enough to protect the inhabitants in the face of last month's floods, who caused the death of ten people.

SBU announcement

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has transmitted, in a statement, that it has evidence that Truhanov has a valid Russian passport.

SBU has published on Telegram a photo that seems to show a photocopy of the page of the Russian passport on which Truhanov's name and photography are.

SBU details:

• “The commission chaired by the President of Ukraine for citizenship issues made the decision to withdraw Ukrainian citizenship to the mayor of Odessa, Ghennadi Truhanov. This decision is based, in particular, on the evidence provided by the Security Service and was approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine.
• According to SBU findings, at present, the current mayor of Odessa, Ghennadi Truhanov, is a citizen of the Russian Federation and has a valid passport of the aggressor country. Children of relevant documents are available to special Ukrainian services.
• Thus, according to the available data, on December 15, 2015, after the beginning of the aggression against Ukraine and the temporary occupation of the Crimean Peninsula, as well as part of the Donetk and Luhansk regions, Ghennadi Leonidovici Truhanov received a foreign passport of the occupant country. It has been released for a period of 10 years and is currently a valid document.
• Regarding the internal passport of the Russian Federation, according to the available information, in 2017, Trus representatives submitted a petition to the Russian authorities and, as a result, a court in the Moscow region revoked the validity of its internal passport. However, in additional explanations, it was stated that the cancellation or refusal of a person to receive such a document “does not involve the deprivation of the citizenship of the Russian Federation acquired by a person legally”.

Thus, Ghennadi Truhanov remains a citizen of the aggressor country. He also has an identification code that appears in the database of the “Federal Federation Service of the Russian Federation”“.

Truhanov announces that he will file an appeal

In a video message, Truhanov said: “I will appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision to withdraw my Ukrainian citizenship. And, if this is not enough, I will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.”

A source familiar with this issue said that Zelenski withdrew citizenship and two other people. According to the Constitution of Ukraine, the president has the power to revoke the citizenship of some people.

By setting up a military administration responsible for the city's management, Zelenski would achieve a more direct control over it. The president personally chooses the heads of military administrations.

The Russian forces failed to reach Odessa in their rapid offensive in southern Ukraine in February 2022, but the port city has since been bombed in constant attacks with rockets and Russian drones throughout the war.

Truhanov was pronounced against the Ukrainian movement of “derusification” that began in 2014, when Moscow occupied and annexed the Crimea Peninsula, and which accelerated after the debut of the large -scale invasion of Russia.

The mayor opposed the dismantling of the statue in Odessa of Ecaterina the Great of Russia, who founded the port in 1794, and of another statue, of Alexander Pushkin, the great Russian playwright.

Adopting such a position transformed into a controversial figure. Tuesday night, a lot of dozens of people gathered in Odessa to ask for replacement.

Oleksii Honcharenko, an opposition deputy from Odessa and a ferocious critic of Zelenski, said that Trukhanov has “many questions” to which he must answer, but he still condemned to withdraw his citizenship.

“Today they will take Truhanov and we will all enjoy it because it is bad, but tomorrow this repression machine will be unleashed against uncomfortable people,” Honcharenko wrote in a message published on Telegram.

The withdrawal of citizenship, which was practiced against dissidents in the Soviet era, again became a habit under the leadership of President Volodimir Zelenski and his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko.