Serbia helps Russia's elite gain easy access to the EU — exactly how
news.online.ua
Fri, 18 Apr 2025 22:04:00 +0300
Serbia is massively granting its citizenship to wealthy RussiansCiting government data, Important Stories reports that from the beginning of 2022 to April 2025, Serbia granted citizenship to more than 330 people, justifying it by saying they were in the interests of the republic, Schengen.News reports.
Of those granted citizenship during this period, 204 are Russian citizens.
However, it is noteworthy that many of the recipients have close ties to Russian intelligence services, stateowned corporations, oligarchs, and are allies of Putin.
It is noted that the EU has a visa liberalization agreement with Serbia.
This means that Serbian passports offer visafree access to the bloc, making them very attractive to Russians, particularly the elite, businessmen, and individuals associated with the Russian militaryindustrial complex.Given the profiles of the beneficiaries, there are now concerns that Kremlinlinked individuals are using Serbian passports as a new backdoor to enter the EU and potentially putting the blocs security at risk.According to the data provided in the investigation, none of the Russians who received a Serbian passport during the aforementioned period are on the EU sanctions lists This means that, despite their ties to the Kremlin, they receive unrestricted access to the Schengen zone with a Serbian passport.
Among the Russians granted Serbian citizenship, 11 are current or former executives of sanctioned Russian defense companies.
One recipient was reportedly Vladimir Putins top bodyguard and served in a unit of the FSB.Nine beneficiaries are current or former executives of banks subject to sanctions.
The list of individuals who received Serbian citizenship also includes sports figures and officials, as well as Russian IT specialists and others.It is important that the EU Commission has expressed concern about Serbia granting citizenship to Russians as early as 2023 and has already warned the country about the need to take appropriate measures.Concerned about potential security risks in the bloc, an EU Commission representative said Serbia should harmonize its visa policy and not grant citizenship to Russian citizens through an accelerated procedure.In addition, the European Commission has threatened Serbia with the suspension of visafree travel if the granting of citizenship by investment schemes is deemed to pose an increased risk to the public and internal security of EU member states.
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