April 21, 2025

The New Serbians


The New Serbians
National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. Andrija12345678, Wikimedia Commons.

According to the independent outlet Vaznye Istory Russian business figures, arms‑industry executives, and Kremlin insiders have secured Serbian passports that grant them visa‑free travel across the European Union.

The paper has alleged that, from early 2022 through April 2025, Belgrade has approved more than 330 “citizenship for merit” decrees, and 204 went to Russians. The fast‑track naturalizations cite Article 19 of Serbia’s citizenship law, which waives residency and language requirements for persons who provide “services to the republic.” Recipients keep their original citizenship and are not required to live in Serbia.

Passports issued under Article 19 often reward athletes, artists, and investors. During Russia’s War on Ukraine, for example, iconographers who decorated Belgrade’s Church of St. Sava and mixed martial arts legend Fedor Emelianenko were all reportedly naturalized. Recent decrees, however, reach deeper into Russia’s political and military elite.

Viktor Shendrik, chair of the Moscow Boxing Federation’s supervisory board and a former officer in the FSB’s Vympel special‑forces unit, has also reportedly become a citizen. Shendrik sponsors a far-right division  fighting against Ukraine and is an associate of Umar Kremlev, who is linked to Alexey Rubezhny, head of President Vladimir Putin’s personal security detail.

Relatives and associates of the defense conglomerate KRET, Russia’s largest maker of electronic warfare gear, allegedly received passports as well. According to the report, Anastasia Kolesova — the daughter of former KRET chief and EU‑sanctioned ex‑governor Nikolai Kolesov — was naturalized along with her husband, Nikolai Urayev, and a relative, Nadezhda Urayeva. Kolesov now runs Russian Helicopters, while Urayev and Urayeva previously managed the Kazan plant Elekon, a key supplier of electrical connectors for missiles, aircraft, and submarines.

Further, Svetlana Kiyko, wife of Mikhail Kiyko, who heads drone developer Aeromax Group, allegedly gained Serbian citizenship, as did Andrei Shamshurin, vice president of the hardware manufacturer Aquarius, whose encrypted communications equipment are used by Russian security agencies.

Some new citizens are reportedly profiting directly from activity in occupied Ukrainian territory. For instance, Ivan Sibirev, former chief of Gennady Timchenko’s construction firm Stroytransneftegaz, co‑owns R‑Stroy, a builder reconstructing the occupied Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Severodonetsk. The EU sanctioned R‑Stroy in 2024.

Ilya Shumanov, corruption researcher and head of the NGO Arktida, said the wave of Russian naturalizations may reflect political bargains made between Belgrade and Moscow. Serbia risks slowing its EU accession bid, he said, but gains “levers from Moscow,” as it confronts anti‑government protests that have roiled the country since early 2024.

Those protests coincided with the largest burst of merit passports: In 2024, 86 of 137 passports went to Russians, more than 30 of whom are tied to the Kremlin or major state corporations. During the same period, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin — a close ally of Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev — made frequent trips to Moscow for meetings with the SVR, FSB, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. In March, Vulin publicly acknowledged Russian intelligence's help in quelling the demonstrations.

Serbia, like Russia, is historically a Slavic Orthodox country (indeed, Russia's close affiliation to Serbia was a significant spark that drew Europe into World War I). These deep roots show themselves in close diplomatic ties.

You Might Also Like

Finn-ancial Crisis?
  • April 14, 2025

Finn-ancial Crisis?

The Finnish parliament has passed a law forbidding Russians from owning real estate in the country.
Flying on Russian Fuel?
  • March 24, 2025

Flying on Russian Fuel?

State edia claims Latvian-state airline is purchasing fuel from Russia. The company denies it.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955