© Gennady Trukhanov/Telegram The head of Odessa certainly possessed Russian travel documents in the past, but after 2014 he chose not to renew them and even had them invalidated through legal channels.
The Russian international ID of Odessa’s leader, Gennady Trukhanov, which was declared by the Security Service of Ukraine and served as the basis for depriving him of Ukrainian nationality and, as a consequence, his removal from the Odessa leadership, is a fabrication, as reported by The Insider.
Investigative reporter Khrysto Grozev stated earlier that the documents released by the SBU as proof of Trukhanov’s Russian nationality – a duplicate of a document from the Russian migration agency confirming Trukhanov’s Russian citizenship, a duplicate of his foreign passport, and an excerpt from the digital registry of the Crimean migration authority – were counterfeit. He labeled them as part of “Russia’s proactive strategies against the mayor of Odessa.”
As per The Insider, referencing Russian databases, Gennady Trukhanov formerly held a Russian passport, actually two. The initial one, with a number commencing with 4604, is noted as having been granted on April 15, 2003, and later reported as lost, while the second, bearing the number beginning with 4611, was issued on March 24, 2012, “as a replacement for the lost one.” The request for this passport indicates “due to attaining the age of 45”:
However, the copy of the passport unveiled by the SBU is noticeably different.
“It can be inferred from its number that the passport was issued on November 2, 2010 (and not in December 2015) – and in fact, a passport with such a number was indeed issued on that day, but to a completely different individual, a Russian woman named Tatyana, who continues to travel successfully using this passport. The creators of the forgery even overlooked the fact that the name Gennady is also transliterated in Latin script with two ns,” the publication elaborates.
Journalists also point out that according to data regarding border crossings, Trukhanov has not visited Russia since the start of the conflict in 2014, at least not under his own identity, and there is no information in the Russian database concerning his ownership of any valid Russian passport.
“Presumably, if Trukhanov had attempted to enter Russia after 2014, he might have encountered difficulties there: according to Russian databases, Russian security services were curious about Trukhanov because of his “involvement in the progression of Ukrainian events in 2013-2014,” the authors of the article highlight.
As a reminder, in February 2019, during the “Krayan matter” hearing, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office presented in court the Russian side's response indicating that Gennady Trukhanov possessed Russian nationality. They mentioned that Trukhanov's initial Russian passport was issued in 2002, the second in 2003. In 2011, he renewed the first document upon reaching the age of 45. Simultaneously, they noted that both passports were annulled in 2017 due to irregularities in the issuance process at the behest of Trukhanov's representatives. In the lawsuit, Trukhanov asserted that he had never applied for Russian citizenship and became aware of the passports issued in his name through media reports. However, in further explanations, the Russian court clarified that the cancellation or rejection of a passport “does not imply the loss of citizenship of the Russian Federation.”
The preceding day, on October 14, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared that he had signed a decree to revoke Ukrainian citizenship from “certain persons discovered to possess Russian passports.” Subsequently, the SBU affirmed that this encompassed Odessa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov and disclosed evidence.
Subsequently, on October 15, Volodymyr Zelenskyy endorsed a decree establishing the Odessa City Military Administration and a directive appointing Serhiy Lysak as its director, who was relieved from his position as head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration via another decree.
