Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, who is under investigation, has lost a court case to regain his Ukrainian citizenship. As Glavkom reports, citing court records, the Supreme Court has upheld President Volodymyr Zelensky's decree on Kolomoisky's loss of citizenship.
The plaintiff tried to challenge the presidential decree of July 18, 2022, emphasizing that since the moment of Ukraine's independence he had permanently resided on its territory, and that the Constitution prohibits depriving a citizen of a Ukrainian passport without his will. However, Kolomoisky himself admitted that back in 1995 he voluntarily acquired Israeli citizenship, which was one of the main reasons for losing his Ukrainian citizenship.
The businessman argued his position by saying that the Constitution of Ukraine was adopted in 1996, after he had already obtained an Israeli passport. In addition, he pointed to the principle of single citizenship without an explicit ban on dual citizenship. However, the court recognized that since the citizenship law came into force in 2001, Kolomoisky had not taken any measures to terminate his Israeli citizenship, thus violating legislative requirements.
Additionally, the court noted that in 1998, when replacing his Ukrainian passport, Kolomoisky deliberately concealed the fact of having foreign citizenship, indicating that he was exclusively a citizen of Ukraine.
The decision states: “The plaintiff had the opportunity to avoid losing his citizenship for 25 years, but he knowingly remained a citizen of another state.” The court also disregarded the decision of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv, which had previously identified Kolomoisky as a citizen of Ukraine, as it did not change the factual circumstances of the case.
Thus, the Supreme Court recognized as lawful the actions of the president and the authorities, which terminated Ihor Kolomoisky's citizenship based on confirmed information from Israel.
Recall that Kolomoisky also lost his Cypriot citizenship in November 2024 as part of the purge of the “golden passports” program. Since September 2023, the oligarch has been in the SBU pre-trial detention center on charges of fraud with PrivatBank funds and money laundering through foreign accounts.
