Russia spreads fake news about Umerov’s children allegedly having US citizenship

The relevant statement was made by Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Serhii Leshchenko during a briefing, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

In fact, all three children of the defense chief are Ukrainian citizens and obtained their citizenship at the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States.

“The fake is being refuted, which was spread by Russian propagandists with reference to their propaganda branches in Ukraine, that the children of [Ukrainian] Defense Minister [Rustem] Umerov have the U.S. citizenship. In particular, many Russian social media pages and even online publications spread false information about [Ukrainian] Defense Minister [Rustem] Umerov allegedly noting his children as American citizens in his declarations. In fact, Minister Umerov’s explanation is very simple: his children are Ukrainian citizens. His son is 10 years old, and his daughters are 8 and 2 years old. All of them are citizens of Ukraine,” Leshchenko told.

In his words, Umerov’s children obtained Ukrainian passports in the United States, namely at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington. Hence, the declarations referred to by Russian propagandists indicated the United States as the place of issue of the documents.

According to Leshchenko, Umerov’s family had to go abroad due to attempted acts and threats against them in connection with Umerov’s systematic work on Crimea’s de-occupation.