Russia strips exiled climate striker, family of citizenship

By JOANNA KOZLOWSKA
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — An exiled climate and antiwar activist says a Moscow court has stripped him of his Russian citizenship. A lawyer says the court also revoked the citizenship of activist Arshak Makichyan’s two brothers and father on Monday. Makichyan is an ally of Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and made headlines in 2019 with a string of solo protests on Moscow’s Pushkin Square. He and his wife left Russia for Germany four weeks into Russia’s war in Ukraine amid the Kremlin’s brutal dispersal of antiwar protests. Makichyan has repeatedly spoken out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the meantime, several Russian businessmen have renounced their citizenship voluntarily.