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Kyiv strips Medvedchuk of citizenship over treason
Summary
A look back at the decree on Viktor Medvedchuk and a postponement announced in Yerevan, both reported in the days before 12 January 2023.
What had changed for Viktor Medvedchuk by 12 January 2023? Two days earlier, on 10 January, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy deprived the pro-Kremlin politician of his citizenship, accusing him of high treason.
Medvedchuk was not the only person affected. Three others were stripped of Ukrainian citizenship on the same treason accusation. The step formed part of the wider response by Ukraine's government to the 2022 Russian invasion.
A separate move in Yerevan
Also on 10 January, Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that joint military exercises with the Russian Armed Forces, planned under the Collective Security Treaty Organization for that year, would be postponed. He cited the organization's refusal to condemn Azerbaijan over the disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The announcement came in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and touched on relations between Armenia and Russia.
Two decisions, one week
The two announcements concerned different countries and different issues. In Kyiv, the focus was on punishing an alleged betrayal by a politician tied to the Kremlin. In Yerevan, the focus was on a security organization that Armenia's leader said had not condemned Azerbaijan, and on the exercises he chose to put off.
