The Serbian government is said to have granted citizenship to nearly 800 Russian citizens, including 204 influential Russians.

Among them are former intelligence officers, war profiteers and oligarchs whose companies are under sanctions due to the war in Ukraine.

Over the past three and a half years, the Serbian government has granted citizenship to 204 influential Russians, bypassing regular procedures, because they are important to the national interest. Among them are former intelligence officers, war profiteers and oligarchs whose companies are under sanctions due to the war in Ukraine.

After reviewing extensive documentation on the investigation of crime and corruption, it is clear that from December 2021 to April 2025, Serbia granted citizenship to 766 Russian citizens, of whom 204 obtained Serbian passports under a special government resolution. In its decision, the Serbian government referred to a law that allows citizenship to be granted to foreigners regardless of the fulfilment of other conditions, if this is important for the interest of Serbia.

Among those who have obtained citizenship in this way, and thus the opportunity to circumvent restrictions imposed on Russian citizens by some EU countries due to the war in Ukraine, are several Russians with ties to the Kremlin’s political elite, the Russian security service (FSB) and the military industry. They also include individuals who have enriched themselves from the war in Ukraine, as well as other business magnates.

One of them is war profiteer Ivan Sibirev, whose company R-Stroy was hired by Russia, among other things, to carry out reconstruction in the war-torn Ukrainian city of Mariupol. The company was sanctioned by the EU last year for enriching itself at the expense of the war.

Following the same procedure, the Serbian government granted citizenship to Viktor Šendrik, a former member of the Russian security service (FSB). He is also a long-time associate of Russian oligarchs Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, who are financially supporting the neo-Nazi Espanyol fan battalion fighting in Ukraine as part of Russian forces.

According to a special procedure, Dmitry Sergeyev, a close friend of the son of the former secretary of the Russian National Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, also received citizenship.

It is not “secret” that Patrushev and Aleksandar Vulin, who was until recently the deputy prime minister of Serbia and before that the head of the BIA security and intelligence service, formed a "working group to combat colour revolutions". Its task is to prevent protests and organize surveillance of activists, journalists and human rights defenders.

Make no mistake, Serbia has maintained close relations with Moscow since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, and, unlike the EU, which it wants to join, refuses to impose sanctions against Russia.

Neither the Serbian government nor the individuals mentioned in the research responded to detailed inquiries from Ali Fortescue, a Sky News journalist.