The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed on Tuesday, Oct. 14, that Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov has Russian citizenship.

The revelation is the basis for the latest decision from Kyiv to strip Trukhanov of his Ukrainian citizenship, as dual nationality is prohibited under Ukrainian law.

The SBU, in its Tuesday press release, confirms that Trukhakov’s citizenship has been revoked on the basis of his Russian citizenship, sharing documents and tax records that allegedly prove the accusations.

“The Commission under the President of Ukraine on Citizenship Issues has made a decision to terminate the citizenship of our state of the Mayor of Odesa, Hennadiy Trukhanov. Such a decision is based, in particular, on the evidence base of the Security Service and approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine,” it says.

The SBU refers to a passport issued by Russia on Dec.15, 2015, adding that though Trukhanov’s representatives filed a petition in the Moscow region to revoke his internal passport, the act alone does not equate to the revocation of Russian citizenship.

The revocation of Trukhnov’s Ukrainian citizenship means his mayorship is effectively terminated, and his duties would be transferred to the city council secretary, or a city military administration could be established to take over governance.

The latest findings also overturned the SBU’s earlier investigations in 2016 that said it could not confirm whether Trukhanov had Russian citizenship.

Trukhkov had denied the accusations and said he was in Ukraine at the time. He also contested the decision and said he would challenge it in court.

“Unfortunately, it turned out as it did. I will defend myself, I will go to court. If the court cannot resolve it, I will take it to the European Court of Human Rights… This is the extreme of lawlessness that should not exist,” he said on Tuesday.

What happened?

On Sunday, Trukhanov acknowledged that his case was under review by a commission but dismissed the move as “another provocation that has been going on since 2014,” insisting that he has never held Russian citizenship.

On Monday, Odesa-based media outlet Dumska reported that a presidential commission had recommended revoking Trukhanov’s citizenship, pending President Volodymyr Zelensky’s confirmation.

On Tuesday, Zelensky hinted at the revocation of Ukrainian citizenship of some people based on their Russian citizenship without naming Trukhanov. But local media, citing Zelensky’s office, confirmed that Trukhanov was among those named.

Allegations that Trukhanov holds Russian citizenship have followed him for more than a decade – claims he has repeatedly denied as “politically motivated lies.”

The controversy first surfaced in 2014 during his mayoral campaign, when leaked data from Russia’s Federal Migration Service allegedly showed that Trukhanov held a Russian passport issued in Dagestan and later reissued in Sergiev Posad near Moscow in 2011.

That same year, Trukhanov said he wrote to the Russian Consulate General in Odesa and to the Federal Migration Service to confirm whether he was listed as a Russian citizen. According to him, both institutions responded that he was not.

He later published a certificate from the Russian consulate supporting that claim. Ukraine’s Migration Service also confirmed that it had no record of Trukhanov giving up his Ukrainian citizenship – meaning there was no legal basis to revoke it.

In 2016, the issue resurfaced after the Panama Papers revealed that Trukhanov allegedly held Russian citizenship and controlled about 20 offshore companies through the construction group ROST, registered in the British Virgin Islands. The companies reportedly controlled more than two dozen firms in Ukraine.

Following the revelations, the SBU opened an investigation into his possible Russian citizenship but later said it could not confirm whether he held a Russian passport.

Trukhanov again denied any wrongdoing, saying he neither owned foreign companies nor possessed Russian citizenship.

In 2024, civil activist and volunteer Serhiy Sternenko reignited the controversy by publishing what he said were official Russian documents