The Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Verkhovna Rada will have to respond if the Security Service of Ukraine confirms the information about the Russian citizenship of Andriy Aksionov, who has won the by-election to parliament in constituency No. 50 in Donetsk region, as well as the fact of his involvement in organizing a "referendum" in Dobropillia about the self-determination of the "Donetsk people's republic," said first deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk.

"I am convinced that everything in Ukraine should take place within the limits stipulated by the Constitution. If such facts about Aksionov are legally valid, then, I think, the Central Election Commission and the Verkhovna Rada should react to this," Stefanchuk said in an interview with Interfax Ukraine.

According to the first deputy speaker, "it cannot be so that a person with dual citizenship, registered and confirmed, occupies one of the highest positions in the state, that is, he is a member of parliament of Ukraine."

Regarding the possible involvement of Aksionov in the organization of the pseudo-referendum, Stefanchuk is convinced that this should also be "certified by the relevant legal fact, and the person who was involved in this, accordingly, should be limited in rights."

At the same time, he stressed that the relevant facts should be confirmed by the Security Service of Ukraine.

As reported, on March 28, 2021, midterm elections to the Verkhovna Rada were held in single-mandate constituencies No. 50 in Donetsk region and No. 87 in Ivano-Frankivsk region, in which 32 candidates took part.

According to the results of electronic processing of 100% of the protocols, representative of the political party Order Andriy Aksionov won in the 50th constituency, gaining 65.46% of the votes.

At the same time, representative of Ukraine to the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in Donbas, Denys Kazansky, noted on his Facebook page that Aksionov in 2014, being the village head of Dobropillia, allegedly contributed to the organization of a "referendum" on the self-determination of the "Donetsk People's Republic". In support of this, a video dated May 12, 2014 was published in the internet, where "DPR fans" from neighboring towns thank Aksionov for organizing a "referendum."

Also, according to Kazansky, Aksionov has dual citizenship - of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, which is confirmed by information from the database of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation.

In addition, in May 2018, the prosecutor's office of Donetsk region, together with the SBU in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, informed Aksionov of suspicion of official forgery (Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code), forgery and the use of documents (Part 4 of Article 358 of the Criminal Code), misappropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it through abuse of office (Part 2, 3, Article 191 of the Criminal Code). According to the investigation, Aksionov committed such actions with the aim of illegally visiting the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea. On January 29, 2019, Kramatorsk City Court chose for Aksionov night house arrest for two months as a preventive measure.