Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has announced his revocation of the citizenship of four Ukrainian lawmakers suspected of treason, including three from a banned pro-Russian party, and signaled more bans were still to come.
He said late on January 10 he took the unusual move against Andriy Derkach, Taras Kozak, Renat Kuzmin, and Viktor Medvedchuk "based on materials prepared" by the Ukrainian Security Service and the State Migration Service.
At least three are outside the country and all have been the target of legal proceedings alleging treason since Russia's unprovoked full-scale invasion began in late February.
"If people's elected representatives choose to serve not the people of Ukraine, but the murderers who came to Ukraine, then our actions will be appropriate," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address to the nation.
He added that these were "not the last such decisions."
Derkach, Kozak, Kuzmin, and Medvedchuk were elected to the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, for the Opposition Platform--For Life party, which is currently banned in Ukraine.
Derkach has been a Ukrainian legislator for more than two decades, but investigators believe he received more than half a million dollars from Russian law enforcement and intelligence agencies "for subversive activities against Ukraine during 2019-2022." He has not attended a parliamentary session since February.
Medvedchuk, a longtime Ukrainian political fixture to whose daughter Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly godfather, was detained in April and handed over to Russia in a prisoner exchange in September.
Kozak left Ukraine in 2021.
Pretrial investigators say the fourth lawmaker, Kuzmin, "placed propaganda materials to the detriment of Ukraine" in the media.
None of the four has publicly responded to Zelenskiy's announcement.
