MOSCOW, January 10 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky approved the decision to deprivation of citizenship of Verkhovna Rada deputies Viktor Medvedchuk, Andriy Derkach, Taras Kozak and Renat Kuzmin.
«Based on the materials prepared by the SBU and the State Migration Service, I approved the decision to terminate the citizenship of four persons: Andriy Derkach Leonidovich, Taras Romanovich Kozak, Renat Ravelevich Kuzmin and Viktor Vladimirovich Medvedchuk,” he said in his evening video message.
Zelensky added that “these are not the last such decisions, the services are working.”
>Earlier, the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, said that Medvedchuk was handed over to the Russian side as a result of an exchange of prisoners with Ukraine. In April last year, the SBU announced the detention of a deputy on behalf of Volodymyr Zelensky. On October 8, 2021, law enforcement officers announced to Medvedchuk another suspicion of treason and assistance to terrorism. The parliamentarian himself stated that he considered the criminal cases opened against him to be political persecution.
As stated by the State Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine, Renat Kuzmin was also announced on suspicion of treason. Andrei Derkach of the SBU was credited with working for Russian intelligence. Taras Kozak was suspected of treason and embezzlement of national resources in Crimea.