Defence Ministry warns of fake news about Umierov's children "holding American citizenship"

The children of Rustem Umierov, Ukraine’s Minister of Defence, live in the United States, but they are Ukrainian citizens.

Source: Ministry of Defence press service

Quote: "Reports in the media alleging that family members of Defence Minister Rustem Umierov are US citizens are not true. 

The minister's children [a son aged 10 and two daughters aged 8 and 2] are citizens of Ukraine only. Umierov's family members do not have citizenship of any other countries."

Details: The Ministry of Defence noted that the Ukrainian passports issued to Umierov's children after their previous passports had expired were obtained at the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States. That is why the declaration referred to by the media indicated the place of issuance as the United States. 

The ministry explained that Umierov's family was forced to go abroad in 2016 following threats and attempts on the now-defence minister’s life due to his tireless work for the liberation of temporarily occupied Crimea.

Rustem Umierov is a delegate of the Qurultay (national congress and representative body) of the Crimean Tatar people. As such, together with Mustafa Dzhemilev, the leader of the Crimean Tatar people, and representatives of the Mejlis (the executive body of the Crimean Tatar people), Umierov has been speaking out about human rights violations in occupied Crimea on numerous international platforms since 2014, and was involved in securing the release of political prisoners in Crimea.

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