The oldest surviving son of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych received Russian citizenship, state media reported Thursday, citing documents it said it had obtained.
Government records reportedly list businessman Oleksandr Yanukovych, 51, as a Ukrainian citizen when he registered a financial and industrial services company in St. Petersburg.
The state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported that records now list him as a Russian citizen but did not specify when Yanukovych received his new citizenship.
His father Viktor Yanukovych served as Ukraine’s pro-Russia president from 2010 until his removal from office in 2014 amid mass pro-EU protests. He fled to Russia where he now lives in exile.
His younger son Viktor Yanukovych Jr. reportedly drowned in Siberia’s Lake Baikal in 2015. Yanukovych senior and junior were under EU sanctions until last December.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last year stripped former president Yanukovych of his Ukrainian citizenship in an effort to “cleanse” the country of pro-Russia influence.
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