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Serbia Begins Issuing Passports to Russians Left Stateless After Renouncing Citizenship
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Serbia has started granting citizenship to people from Russia who previously gave up their Russian passports to become Serbian citizens. These individuals had been stuck in a legal "gray zone" for several years, living without official documents or a clear legal status.
This affects several dozen people who were undergoing the naturalization process. The issue first became public in May of last year, according to The Moscow Times on March 23.
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There is no official ban on giving passports to people from Russia, Ukraine, or Belarus. However, in practice, the process was mostly frozen for a long time. Under the established rules, applicants must first receive preliminary approval for citizenship.
After that, they must renounce their original passport and provide proof to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Only then is a final document issued to allow them to get an ID card and a passport.
A problem appeared several years ago when applicants received preliminary approval and gave up their Russian citizenship, but Serbian authorities did not issue the final documents.
Officials claimed they needed to conduct additional checks. As a result, these people became stateless persons with no documents. Their only ID was a foreign resident card that still listed them as having Russian citizenship.
According to the applicants, the situation began to change at the start of March. The police have been contacting them regarding their old applications, and in recent weeks, they have received confirmation of their Serbian citizenship. Following this, they can visit their local municipality to apply for a passport.
At the same time, Serbia continues to provide citizenship through an exceptional procedure "in the interests of the republic." This specific path does not require the person to give up their previous citizenship.
Between early 2022 and March 2025, dozens of Russian political and military elites obtained Serbian citizenship through an exceptional "special merit" process. This group included former FSB officers and individuals linked to Russia’s defense sector, many of whom were involved in operations within occupied Ukrainian territories.
These passports granted them visa-free access to the European Union and approximately 100 other countries, as most of the recipients did not appear on international sanctions lists at the time.
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