Since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Serbia has significantly increased the granting of citizenship to Russian nationals, including oligarchs and officials under Western sanctions, Balkan Insight reports.
Serbian authorities have expanded the practice of issuing passports to Russians through “special” decisions. Since 2023 alone, more than 150 Russians have received Serbian citizenship, at least five of whom are on sanctions lists.
Serbia’s Prime Minister Đuro Macut, who took office in April 2023, stated in an interview with Russian media shortly after his appointment that Serbs and Russians are “brotherly peoples” who cannot be separated. He later signed 41 decrees granting citizenship to Russian nationals. Among the new passport holders was Elena Mikhailova, a former member of Gazprom’s board, who is sanctioned by the UK and Canada.
His predecessor, Miloš Vucević, also issued passports to sanctioned Russians, including Elena Burmistrova, first vice president of Gazprombank (under UK sanctions), and billionaire Oleg Boyko, co-owner of the Vulkan casino network and head of Finstar Financial Group. Boyko is sanctioned by Poland, Australia, and Ukraine, where he was accused of ties to criminal networks and financing Russia’s military budget.
In September 2025, Macut granted citizenship to the children of Chechen billionaire Musa Bazayev, head of the Russian Platinum holding, who is on sanctions lists in the EU, UK, and Switzerland. His son Timur, previously detained in Moscow after attacking a police colonel, was also included and later released from custody.
In March 2024, Chechen businessman Ruslan Alisultanov—a former deputy mayor of Grozny and ex-deputy minister of agriculture of Chechnya, close to Ramzan Kadyrov—received Serbian citizenship. Canada had sanctioned him for corruption and human rights violations. He later became the owner of Danone’s Russian division after the company left the market.
In April 2024, Serbian citizenship was issued to Alexey Yankovich, deputy general director of Gazpromneft, who is under UK sanctions. His colleague Elena Burmistrova had previously received the same document.
According to the report, Serbian citizenship gives Russians visa-free access to the Schengen area and over 130 countries worldwide, as well as access to banking services in most EU countries, including Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovenia.
