Lviv, Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revoked the citizenship of several former powerful politicians on Saturday (February 4) as part of the latest move to “cleanse” the country of pro-Russian influence.
“Today I signed the relevant documents to take another step towards protecting and cleansing our state from those who are on the side of the aggressor,” Zelensky said in his nightly video message.
Zelenskiy did not name names, but said they had dual Russian citizenship.
According to Ukrainian state media, the list includes several senior politicians from the apparatus of Viktor Yanukovych, who served as the pro-Russian president of Ukraine from 2010 until his removal from office in 2014.
The list includes former Minister of Education and Science Dmitry Tabachnik, former Deputy Prime Minister and head of Yanukovych’s administration Andriy Klyuev, and former Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, RBC-Ukraine news agency reports.
Ukraine has stripped a number of people of their Ukrainian citizenship and imposed sanctions on hundreds of Russian and Belarusian individuals and entities since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February.
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