Non-affiliated People's Deputy of Ukraine Andriy Artemenko claims that he refused the Canadian identity card, but at the same time remained a citizen of Canada.

"I do not have passports of other countries. I have a passport of Ukraine. I had a Canadian passport that I had to suspend in 2014, as required by the existing legislation. I did it publicly in 2014, before the election," he said in an interview with the 'Komsomolska Pravda in Ukraine.'

Answering the question about the rejection of Canadian citizenship, the deputy said: "No, of course I [did not refuse] it. The procedure for renouncing citizenship is a much more complicated procedure that requires appropriate actions, including legal ones. And me, without violating any law of Canada, no law of Ukraine, I pay taxes both in Ukraine and in Canada."

Artemenko believes that he did not violate a single document in Ukraine and Canada, he "became a people's deputy in lawful way."

At the same time he stated that he has no other citizenships and nationalities.

The MP also noted that his children have the citizenship of Ukraine and live with him here. At the same time, according to the declaration for 2015, his son Edward-Daniel and his daughter Amber Kateryna are U.S. citizens, his son Vitaliy is a Canadian citizen and his daughter Khrystyna is a Ukrainian citizen.

As earlier reported by the New York City-based daily newspaper The New York Times, Artemenko presented his plan for ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine to the U.S. presidential administration. Under the plan, a referendum would be held on the question of leasing Ukraine's Crimea peninsula to the Russian Federation from 50 to 100 years, as well as the withdrawal of Russian occupation forces in eastern Ukraine.

Prosecutors investigate criminal proceedings against Artemenko for anti-state actions in cooperation with the Russian Federation.

On February 20, Oleh Liashko's Radical Party decided to expel deputy Artemenko from its team.

Artemenko is the initiator of the draft law on introducing amendments to the law on citizenship of Ukraine regarding dual citizenship.

Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko said that Artemenko had documented to the prosecutor's office that he has Canadian citizenship, in addition to Ukrainian citizenship: "He said at one of the interrogations that he was a Canadian citizen." Surprisingly, on the investigator's request to confirm this, he said: "Of course, the next time I'll bring the documents." At the same time, Lutsenko showed journalists a copy of the Canadian passport of the parliamentarian.