Zelensky stripped 4 of their Ukrainian citizenship

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his address to the nation yesterday, announced that he had stripped 4 people of their Ukrainian citizenship, including former Ukrainian parliamentarian Viktor Medvedchuk, who is close to Russia.

“Based on documents prepared by the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Immigration Service of Ukraine and in accordance with the Constitution of our state, I have decided to cancel the citizenship of four people: Andriy Leonidovych Derkach, Taras Romanovych Kozak, Renat Raveliyovych Kuzmin and Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk,” Zelenskiy said. Zelenskiy stressed that the intelligence services continue to work and that such decisions will continue.

Viktor Medvedchuk, a deputy of the Opposition Platform for Life, the main opposition party in Ukraine, known for his closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested in 2021 on charges of treason and sentenced to house arrest. It was claimed that he escaped from house arrest with the start of the Russian invasion on February 24 last year, and it was announced that he was detained again in April.

As a result of negotiations between Turkey and the two states in September 2022, Medvedçuk and 55 Russian soldiers were sent to Russia in exchange for 215 Ukrainian soldiers, 5 Azov commanders and 10 foreign ones. (DHA)