'Powerful' Russians linked to FSB and beneficiaries of war in Ukraine take Serbian citizenship, avoid sanctions and travel restrictions

A number of powerful Russians who are connected to the Federal Security Service (FSB), as well as profiteers from the war in Ukraine, as well as oligarchs whose companies have been under sanctions for the past three and a half years, received Serbian citizenship outside of standard procedures - with a special decision of the Serbian Government stating that it is "in the national interest" of Serbia, writes KRIK.

In this way, around 204 Russian men and women became citizens of Serbia under a special measure, and in this way managed to bypass travel restrictions imposed by the European Union, reports Telegraph.

KRIK writes that since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian citizens have found it difficult to travel to EU countries and several other countries, but powerful Russians who are connected to intelligence structures, war profiteers, and oligarchs found a way to bypass visas by securing passports of other countries for themselves, and for many of them, the passport was tempting.

According to KRIK, it was not at all difficult for these influential Russians to obtain Serbian citizenship, even though they did not meet the criteria for it. Accordingly, the Serbian government, initially led by Ana Brnabić and then Miloš Vučević, granted citizenship to these controversial Russians outside the procedure applicable to foreigners, justifying it with Serbian national interest.

One of them is Ivan Sibirev, a war profiteer whose company R-stroy developed businesses in war-torn Ukrainian cities. While the EU sanctioned his company last year for enriching itself from the war, Serbian Prime Minister Brnabic, bypassing standard procedures, granted him Serbian citizenship.

To make this happen, since Sibirev did not meet the conditions, the Serbian Government used an article of the Law on Citizenship that allows foreigners to be granted citizenship if this is important for the “national interest” of Serbia.

Brnabic also believed it was important for Serbia to grant citizenship to Viktor Shendrik, a former special agent of the Russian Security Service (FSB) and chief of security for Russian oligarchs Arkady and Boris Rotenberg. Shendrik is also a sponsor of the neo-Nazi division of Espanyol fans fighting against Ukraine.

According to a special procedure, citizenship was also granted to Dmitry Sergeev – a close friend of the son of the famous FSB general Nikolai Patrushev, who closely cooperates with Alexander Vulin on the wiretapping of the Russian opposition in Belgrade. Patrushev and Vulin formed a “working group to combat ‘color revolutions’”, tasked with preventing protests and organizing monitoring of activists, journalists and human rights defenders.

They are not the only Russian citizens who, thanks to special decisions by the Serbian Government, have managed to obtain Serbian passports, according to research by journalists from the Russian website "Important Stories" and KRIK.

The journalists reviewed all decisions on granting citizenship from the beginning of 2022 to April 2025 and found up to 204 Russian citizens who had received Serbian passports outside the usual procedure, because it was allegedly "in the interests of Serbia."

They were not required to meet standard conditions, such as living in Serbia before or after receiving the passport, nor to renounce other citizenships.

Among those who have obtained citizenship in this way are some Russians connected to the political elite from the Kremlin, the Russian Security Service (FSB), the military industry, those who became rich during the war in Ukraine and other business giants, according to the research. /Telegraph