--- title: "Gennady Trukhanov stripped of Ukrainian citizenship: reasons, facts, and the mayor of Odesa's reaction" description: "🚨 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stripped Odesa mayor Gennady Trukhanov of his Ukrainian citizenship. The reason was the confirmation that he holds a Russian passport. Trukhanov himself denies this and plans to appeal to the court. πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡·πŸ‡Ί" date: 2026-06-01T09:59:33.000Z lang: en url: https://xab.info/en/posts/trukhanov-stripped-of-ukrainian-citizenship-reasons-facts-and-reaction tags: [] publisher: "XAB.info" --- # Gennady Trukhanov stripped of Ukrainian citizenship: reasons, facts, and the mayor of Odesa's reaction ![Campaign billboard of Hennadiy Trukhanov in Odesa with slogan 'Let’s preserve peace in Odesa' and mayoral election date β€” November 15](https://xab.info/media/2026/06/01/truhanov-lishen-ukrainskogo-grazhdanstva-prichiny-i-fakty/truhanov-lishen-ukrainskogo-grazhdanstva-prichiny-i-fakty-1.webp) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree stripping Ukrainian citizenship from a number of individuals, among whom, according to sources, is the current mayor of Odesa, Gennady Trukhanov. The basis for this was the confirmation that he holds a Russian passport. The decision was made following a security meeting, where the head of the SBU, Vasyl Maliuk, reported on countering Russian intelligence networks and collaborators in frontline regions and in the south of the country. Zelenskyy stated that "the presence of Russian citizenship in some individuals has been confirmed," but did not name them in his social media post. Sources for the BBC Ukrainian Service within government structures confirmed that this includes Trukhanov. Also, according to Ukrainian media, the decree on stripping citizenship affected former Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleh Tsarev and ballet artist Sergey Polunin. ### Reaction of the Mayor of Odesa Gennady Trukhanov himself categorically denies holding a Russian passport. On his social media, he wrote that these accusations are "not new." According to him, since 2014 he has constantly explained that he does not and never has had Russian citizenship. "All relevant Ukrainian authorities have checked me β€” all of them," the mayor emphasized. Trukhanov cited several examples when, as he claims, the absence of a Russian passport was proven. In particular, in 2018, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, in response to a request from the NABU, reported that as of July 2018, the mayor of Odesa was not registered in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs as a person who acquired Russian citizenship. [](/en/images/trukhanov-stripped-of-ukrainian-citizenship-reasons-facts-and-reaction-2) After the news about the stripping of his Ukrainian citizenship, Trukhanov stated that he plans to appeal to the court. "I will defend myself, I will file a lawsuit. If the court cannot decide, I will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights... This is the limit of such, you know, arbitrariness, which cannot be," he said in a comment to the public broadcaster "Suspilne". ### History of accusations Accusations regarding Trukhanov holding Russian citizenship have been circulating for many years. In April 2016, the publication "Sledstvie.Info" published an international investigation featuring the mayor of Odesa, as well as information about his alleged Russian citizenship. The journalists' data contradicted the statement of the Russian consulate in Odesa that Trukhanov had neither Russian citizenship nor a passport. The SBU also stated that they found no evidence of this. In the autumn of 2017, journalists from "Ukrainska Pravda" found data in the Federal Tax Service of Russia which, it was claimed, proved that Trukhanov is a citizen of Russia. According to their information, the document was issued in 2011. ### Biography and political path Gennady Trukhanov is one of the most famous Ukrainian mayors; he has held this post since May 2014. His official biography states that he received a military education at the Odesa Artillery School with a specialty in automotive repair engineering. He left the Armed Forces in 1992. In the early 90s, Trukhanov began working as a security guard at the company "Minimax," and then opened his own security business β€” the security company "Captain & Co." According to his official biography, since 2001 Trukhanov officially began working for Russian companies. First, he was an "advisor to the general director on security" for the company "Lukoil-Ukraine," and then an assistant on security β€” already in the parent company. [](/en/images/trukhanov-stripped-of-ukrainian-citizenship-reasons-facts-and-reaction-3) After Viktor Yanukovych fled Ukraine, Gennady Trukhanov left the Party of Regions faction and began cooperating with the new authorities. In May 2014, early elections for the mayor of Odesa were held, in which Trukhanov defeated Eduard Gurtvich. He managed to win the city head elections again in the autumn of 2015. This time, Trukhanov's main opponent was the team of Mikheil Saakashvili, whom the president appointed governor of the region in early summer 2015. Since taking office as mayor, Trukhanov has been involved in several criminal proceedings β€” suspicion was raised against the city head in three of them. In December 2024, the NABU and the Office of the Prosecutor General sent a case regarding a criminal organization, in which Gennady Trukhanov is featured, to the court, due to which the city community probably lost 689 million hryvnias. The investigation continues to this day.