The Russian investigative publication The Insider published an article in which it casts doubt on the authenticity of the Russian passport presented by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) as evidence that Odessa mayor Gennady Trukhanov holds Russian citizenship.
According to the publication, based on a search of Russian databases, Trukhanov actually had two Russian internal passports - the first, issued before 2011, and the second, obtained in 2011 as a duplicate after the first document was lost.
However, the copy of the Russian international passport distributed by the SBU on October 14 does not correspond to the one actually issued document, claim The Insider journalists.
The investigation points to several specific discrepancies.
First of all, the document number shown by the SBU is registered in the Russian system as a passport issued on November 2, 2010, and not in December 2015, as can be seen from the photocopy published by the Ukrainian service.
In addition, a passport with the same number was issued to another person - a Russian citizen named Tatyana, who subsequently used the document when traveling abroad.
The Insider also draws attention to a difference in the spelling of the name: in the copy presented by the SBU, it is written "Genadiy Trukhanov", while according to the correct transliteration from Russian, the name should be "Gennadiy" - with a double n, as in all official Russian documents.
The publication adds that, according to the border crossing databases, Gennady Trukhanov has not visited Russia since 2014.
This casts doubt on the claims that he has actively maintained Russian citizenship or ties with Russian authorities in recent years.
On October 14, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree depriving Trukhanov of Ukrainian citizenship, citing information that he holds a Russian passport.
The mayor of Odessa himself denied the accusations, stating that he "never had and does not have Russian citizenship," and assured that he would continue to fulfill his duties as a legally elected mayor.
The Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on The Insider's allegations.
If the information is confirmed, this could call into question the reliability of the evidence used by the SBU, and to deepen political tensions in Odessa, where a military administration led by Sergei Lysak had already been established after Trukhanov was removed from his post.
The Insider's publication adds a new dose of ambiguity to the case, which is increasingly turning from a legal dispute into a test of the transparency and legal approach of Ukrainian institutions in a period of war and internal changes.