KYIV. Feb 5 (Interfax) - There are rumors about former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and Austrian citizenship, his press secretary Vitali Lykyanenko said.
"The information about an Austrian passport, as well as regarding Mykola Azarov's property and assets in the territory of this country are untrue," Lukyanenko was quoted as saying on the Cabinet of Ministers' website on Tuesday.
Azarov has demanded that leader of the Greens in the European Parliament Rebecca Harms, who is cited by the media, either substantiate with evidence or retract and apologize for spreading the false information, the spokesperson said. Otherwise, he will file a relevant lawsuit in court.
Meanwhile, a few minutes ago Azarov wrote on his Facebook page: "I have never asked any European state to provide me with a passport. I therefore officially state that the information that is now being spread in the media is a lie!".
Likewise, reports about Acting Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov having an Austrian passport are untrue, Arbuzov's Press Secretary Olexander Kutereshchyn told Interfax later.
"Serhiy Arbuzov has no second passport, neither Austrian, nor of any other state," the spokesman said.
"I would like to express the hope that whatever the degree of emotions, it would be expedient to either check this sort of information or provide it with some evidence," Kutereshchyn said.
Earlier the EP's Greens leader Harms said that a number of Ukrainian officials allegedly have Austrian passports.