President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stripped Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov of his citizenship after Ukraine’s Security Service reportedly confirmed he holds a Russian passport. The longtime mayor denies the claim and vows to challenge the decision in court.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has revoked the citizenship of Odessa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov after Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) allegedly confirmed that he holds a Russian passport, as reported almost a decade ago by investigative journalists.
The presidential decree likely ends Trukhanov’s 11-year tenure as mayor of the Black Sea port city and paves the way for a military administration to take control. Zelenskyy did not name Trukhanov in his official statement but said he had signed a decree revoking citizenship for “several individuals confirmed to hold Russian citizenship.”
Trukhanov denied the allegation in a video address posted Monday on the Odesa City Council’s website and said he would “continue to perform [his] duties as elected mayor until the City Council formally acknowledges the loss of citizenship.” He added that he would appeal the presidential decree to Ukraine’s Supreme Court and, if necessary, the European Court of Human Rights.
“I have never applied to the Russian Federation for citizenship. I have never received a Russian passport. I am a citizen of Ukraine,” he said in the video. “All speculation about my alleged Russian citizenship stems from the fact that some former USSR citizens automatically acquired Russian citizenship under certain circumstances. However, none of those circumstances applied to me.”
Speaking further to The Kyiv Independent, Trukhanov implied the decision was politically motivated.
“I’m supported by the majority of Odesa’s population, and someone really doesn’t want to see me as the mayor of the city.”
Analysts say the timing of Zelenskyy’s decision may reflect broader efforts to tighten control over regional authorities during wartime and remove politicians with questionable loyalties. Whether the SBU releases conclusive proof of Trukhanov’s Russian citizenship will determine whether the move is seen as a legitimate security measure or a political purge.
A petition on the president’s official website earlier this year called for revoking Trukhanov’s citizenship, citing past investigative reports that claimed he held a Russian passport. The authors argued that a person with citizenship of the aggressor state “cannot hold an elected position in Ukraine.” The petition gathered several thousand signatures but did not reach the threshold for formal consideration.
Allegations that Trukhanov holds Russian citizenship dates back to 2016, when Slidstvo.Info and OCCRP jointly published an investigation revealing that he controlled a network of offshore construction companies registered to an address in Sergiyev Posad, Russia.
Two years later, OCCRP reported that the Panama Papers contained a copy of a Russian passport bearing Trukhanov’s name and photo — “a smoking gun,” as journalists described it.
Despite these findings, Trukhanov was reelected mayor three times and remained a one of the country’s most controversial figures, facing multiple criminal cases for embezzlement and abuse of office.
