Exiled opposition politician Ilya Yashin announces his Russian citizenship has been revoked

Yashin reminded readers that Article 6 of the Russian Constitution prohibits depriving a citizen of the Russian Federation of their citizenship.

“If the information from the Russian Interior Ministry presented in court is confirmed, we are dealing with a most significant precedent and a new escalation of lawlessness on the part of Putin’s regime,” Yashin concluded.

Meanwhile, as the investigative outlet Agentstvo found out, the opposition politician’s passport is still listed as valid on Russia's online public services portal.

Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer from the human rights project Pervy Otdel (Dept.One), pointed out to The Insider that the report published by Yashin may contain an error:

“To be honest, there’s little trust in this document. Most likely, the Interior Ministry has once again made a mix-up. The document states [in the ‘Criminal Record Information’ section] that ‘the nature of the crime is a false report of a terrorist act’ [whereas Yashin was actually convicted for spreading ‘fakes’ about the Russian Armed Forces]. A similar situation could be the case with his stateless person status.

From what I know about Ilya’s biography, he cannot be deprived of his citizenship under current laws, since he acquired it at birth.”