The father of Serhii Naumiuk, the newly-appointed deputy head of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), has a valid Russian passport, according to a report published by the investigative project Schemes on May 26.
Naumiuk was appointed deputy head of the SBU on May 25 by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The SBU's press service said Naumiuk had passed "all the necessary (background) checks" prior to his appointment and his relatives were "waiting for the cancellation of (their) Russian citizenship," Schemes wrote.
However, "the authorized bodies of the Russian Federation are deliberately blocking the consideration of relevant applications."
"My parents lived in Luhansk since 1978. During the occupation, everyone decided whether to leave their home. They stayed at home, lived their lives, and did not cooperate with the occupation authorities. In 2015, for certain domestic reasons, my father and brother were forced to obtain Russian passports," Naumiuk said, as quoted by Schemes.
According to Schemes, Naumiuk's brother worked in Moscow between 2015 and 2017 before moving to the U.S., and their parents relocated to the U.S. after the start of the full-scale invasion. Afterward, they began the process of renouncing their Russian citizenship.
Kate Tsurkan
(Updated: )
