Three powerful and prominent Jewish oligarchs in Ukraine appear to have had their citizenship stripped as their long-simmering conflict with President Volodymyr Zelensky has reached a boiling point amid the war with Russia.
Last week, Zelensky reportedly either revoked or took steps to revoke the Ukrainian citizenship of two of the country’s best known oligarchs, Igor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Korban, as well as that of Vadim Rabinovich, a former tycoon turned opposition lawmaker.
The three men are among the wealthiest Jews in Ukraine, and the official reason for the move appears to be that they hold foreign citizenship — including in Israel. Dual citizenship is technically illegal in Ukraine but is widely tolerated in practice.
Several alternate theories are also circulating, including that Zelensky is purging oligarchs with checkered pasts in an effort to prove to the United States and other Western countries that Ukraine has no tolerance for corruption.
What is clear is that three of the most influential Jews in Ukraine, including two who have been instrumental in funding Jewish infrastructure projects, especially in the Chabad-Lubavitch stronghold of Dnipro, appear no longer to be welcome in their native land. Korban has already been denied entrance into Ukraine at a border crossing and had his Ukrainian passport confiscated, according to Ukrainian media reports.
