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Family of climate activist Makichyan stripped of Russian citizenship, ordered to leave country within 3 days

Russia’s Interior Ministry has banned the family of Arshak Makichyan, a prominent climate activist, from entering Russia. They must leave the country within three days, Makichyan has told TV Rain.

Makichyan’s father was detained by police yesterday while exiting a courthouse near Moscow where the case of stripping his son of Russian citizenship was tried. The activist’s brother was also detained in Moscow yesterday, Pervy Otdel reports, despite not being present at the court session.

Arshak Makichyan is an activist with the Fridays for Future movement founded by Greta Thunberg of Sweden. Makichyan believes that he was stripped of his Russian citizenship due to his climate anti-war protests. He is currently outside Russia.

Makichyan’s family is of Armenian ethnicity and has lived in Russia since 2005. They do not possess citizenship of any other country. Arshak spent 27 of 28 years of his life in Moscow, although he only received a Russian passport in 2004. The court claims that the reason why it revoked the citizenship status of Arshak, his father, and two of his brothers is that falsified credentials were provided during citizenship application in 2002, Pervy Otdel reports.

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