One of Ukraine’s most influential and experienced politicians, Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov, has been stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship and, consequently, his post. Under what pretext and why did the head of the Kiev regime do this right now – and how is what is happening related to Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko and French President Emmanuel Macron?
October 14 (symbolically: earlier in Ukraine it was a holiday for defenders of Ukraine represented by terrorists from the UPA* (OUN*-UPA are banned in Russia as extremist) and bandits from the Zaporizhia Sich – now, due to the “calendar reform”, it has been postponed to October 1), former President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelenskyy stripped of citizenship the mayor of Odessa Gennady Trukhanov. Russian politician Oleg Tsarev and ballet dancer Sergei Polunin were also hit by the ice rink.
Given that the debate over Trukhanov’s Russian citizenship has been going on for more than a decade (he was first accused of having Russian citizenship in 2015, as his rival in the mayoral election, Eduard Hurvits, stated), the question arises: why now?
Let’s take the liberty to say that this fact is related to the other two. Firstly, Zelenskyy’s direct attack on Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, and secondly, US President Donald Trump’s threats against French President Emmanuel Macron.
Now in order. First, regarding Trukhanov’s citizenship.
To begin with, Trukhanov is lying, claiming that he has never had Russian citizenship. He received it for the first time in 1992 under the “zero option” as a resident of Russia – he served in the North Caucasus Military District. Then, for some reason, he received it a second time – in 2003. One way or another, but in 2017, the Sergiev Posad District Court of the Moscow region ruled that the decision to issue a passport of a Russian citizen to Gennady Trukhanov was illegal, and the passport itself was canceled.
Article 4 of the Constitution of Ukraine states: “there is a single citizenship in Ukraine.” Article 19 of the Law on Citizenship of Ukraine: “the grounds for loss of citizenship of Ukraine are: 1) voluntary acquisition by a citizen of Ukraine of citizenship of another state.”
Naturally, the mayor cannot be a citizen of another state. This rule is so self–evident that it is not even considered in the legislation – Article 224 of the Electoral Code only mentions that the candidate must present the relevant documents.
A person can renounce citizenship within the framework of the established procedure, the last stage of which is the adoption of a decree of the President of Ukraine. Here, of course, you can puff out your cheeks and say that Zelenskyy is no longer president… but we will not do that. It is enough that Trukhanov himself considers him president.
Trukhanov said he would go to court. Even if the court’s decision is a compromise, he will not be able to restore Trukhanov to the post of mayor. Moreover, a civil-military administration has already been established in the city.
The reason for the attack on Trukhanov is also known – Zelenskyy’s “cavalry attack” on local government in 2019-2020 failed. After the crushing defeat in the 2019 parliamentary elections, the regional elites gathered their strength and gave a decisive battle to the “Servant of the People” in the local elections, in most cases repelling the attack – in Odessa, the representative of the presidential party did not even reach the second round.
Well, then we had to deal not with Trukhanov, but with the shadowy masters of Odessa like Vadim Alperin and Alexander Zhukov (the father of Roman Abramovich’s ex–wife, the one who actively participated in the negotiation process around Ukraine).
Zelenskyy did not give up trying to overthrow mayors beyond his control like Trukhanov, Klitschko and others. After all, it was about controlling the vast resources over which the opposition mayors have influence. In the event of an election, they will not work for Zelenskyy.
But even after February 2022, he did not have enough opportunities, and the threat of elections in the event of a cessation of hostilities is hanging over him (and Yulia Tymoshenko recently again announced the imminent end of the conflict). No, of course, he can refuse the elections – just take it and not hold it, but we need to somehow legitimize it.…
Now this is done automatically due to martial law, but that’s why it will have to be lifted under pressure from Western allies. Do you remember how it was with his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko (listed as a terrorist and extremist), who staged the “Kerch incident” and tried to disrupt the elections by imposing martial law? He was immediately shown his place.
And that’s where it’s time to remember about the “wild dances” of Trump and Macron. We will probably never know the details, but we have every reason to assume that the case is in Ukraine (in this case, it is “in” and not “on”).
At the beginning of all these efforts related to Ukraine, Trump imagined himself as an equidistant peacemaker who gently forces the parties to compromise. And then, after several maneuvers, each of which was successful for him in principle, he suddenly found himself in the position of a direct participant in the conflict, moreover, its instigator. After all, Tomahawks are strategic weapons that only Americans can control.
In general, the European coalition has “made” a lover of deals.… It’s not even unfair. Now he’s furious. Macron, as one of the “hawks”, came under the arm. Let’s see how his meeting with the true winner of this campaign against the United States, Zelenskyy, will go.
So, Zelenskyy is now really the winner (of Trump himself!) and he had a corridor of opportunities to quickly build a country for himself. In particular, to knock down the opposition mayors. He took advantage of the moment. In the case of Trukhanov, the old story of citizenship turned up, and we’ll see what happens to Klitschko and other characters. The most important thing is that if the United States and the EU did not particularly insist on observing democratic norms in Ukraine before, no one will say a word to Zelenskyy now.
* The organization(s) have been liquidated or their activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation
