Bellingcat promises to show evidence that the Russian passport of Trukhanov published by the SBU is fake

Investigative journalist from the online publication Bellingcat, Christo Grozev, called the Russian passport of Odessa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov — whose photo was published by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and which led to his loss of citizenship — a fake.

Grozev wrote this on his account on X (formerly Twitter).

“The Security Service of Ukraine reported that President Zelensky has stripped the Mayor of Odessa, Hennadiy Trukhanov, of Ukrainian citizenship. The reason, according to the SBU, is that in 2015 the mayor allegedly received a Russian foreign passport valid until the end of 2025. However, this document is clearly fake and is likely the result of active Russian operations against the sitting mayor,” the journalist’s post said.

He added that he will later publish a full investigation explaining why Trukhanov’s passport is fake and what evidence points to Russian intelligence acting under a false flag.

As a reminder, yesterday the SBU officially stated that Trukhanov was stripped of citizenship based on its materials about the mayor’s alleged Russian passport.

Trukhanov himself calls the passport a forgery and says he intends to prove it with the help of the United States.