Serbian citizenship through a special procedure for former Russian security service (FSB) special agent and profiteers of the war in Ukraine

 

Written by: Nikita Kondratjev (Important Stories), Bojana Jovanović (KRIK) 16.04.2025.

 

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian citizens have found it difficult to travel to the European Union and several other countries due to the tightening of visa regulations.

However, powerful Russians with ties to intelligence structures, war profiteers, and oligarchs have found a way to circumvent visas by obtaining passports from other countries that allow them to travel freely to the EU. For many of them, the Serbian passport was a tempting option.

For these influential Russians, it was not difficult at all to obtain it. Although they did not meet the criteria to become Serbian citizens, the Serbian government, led first by Ana Brnabić and then by Miloš Vučević, granted citizenship to these counter-powerful Russians outside the procedure for foreigners, justifying it by Serbian national interest.

One of them is Ivan Sibirev, a war profiteer whose company "R-Stroj" developed businesses in war-torn Ukrainian cities. While the European Union sanctioned his company last year for enriching himself through war, Prime Minister Brnabić, bypassing standard procedures, granted him Serbian citizenship. To make this happen, since Sibirev did not meet the requirements, the Serbian government used an article in the Citizenship Law that allows foreigners to be granted citizenship if it is important for the “national interest” of Serbia.

Brnabić also believed that it was important for Serbia to grant citizenship to Viktor Šendrik, a former special agent of the Russian Security Service (FSB) and head of security for Russian oligarchs Arkady and Boris Rotenberg. Šendrik 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 Dimitriy Sergeyev – a close friend of the son of the famous FSB general Nikolai Patrushev, who works closely with Aleksandar Vulin on wiretapping the Russian opposition in Belgrade. Patrushev and Vulin also formed a “working group to combat ‘colored revolutions’” with the task of preventing protests and organizing the monitoring of activists, journalists and human rights defenders, as Danas wrote.

They are not the only Russian citizens who, thanks to special decisions of the Serbian government, managed to obtain a Serbian passport, according to research by journalists from the Russian website “Važne priče” and the KRIK portal.

Journalists reviewed all decisions on granting citizenship from the beginning of 2022 to April 2025 and found as many as 204 Russian citizens who were granted Serbian passports outside the usual procedure because it was allegedly “in the interest of Serbia”. They were not required to meet standard conditions such as living in Serbia before or after obtaining the passport, or to renounce other citizenships.

Among those who obtained citizenship in this way are several Russians connected to the Kremlin’s political elite, the Russian security service (FSB), the military industry, those who became rich in the war in Ukraine and other business giants, according to research by “Vazne priča” and KRIK. It is not clear what national interests Serbia is serving with these decisions.

Granting citizenship in this way is usually reserved for prominent people in the fields of science, sports or art.

Corruption researcher from the NGO Arktida, Ilya Shumanov, believes that such a mass distribution of passports could be part of a political agreement between the two governments. He says that in this scenario, Serbia risks losing its chances for European integration, but the authorities in the country could receive from Moscow the instruments of authoritarian control that it needs now, at a time of mass protests.

“I think it is also about informal financial support, providing loans and credits that will be used to maintain the regime,” says Shumanov. “Serbia is turbulent and Russia can help the regime by sharing all authoritarian practices with them. Starting from monitoring systems, control of social networks, to political technologies - for example, bot farms and the like.”

Journalists from “Vazne priča” contacted all the people mentioned in the article who were granted Serbian citizenship, but did not receive answers. KRIK sent questions to the Serbian Government for an explanation of such decisions, but the press service did not respond to them.

Below you can read which controversial Russians have received Serbian citizenship from 2022 to the present.

 

 

Ivan Sibirev

 

Sibirev, the owner of the EU-sanctioned R-Stroy company, was granted Serbian citizenship by Prime Minister Ana Brnabić on March 14, 2024.

 

Sibirev is one of the profiteers of the war in Ukraine. After the Russian invasion, he became a co-owner of the R-Stroy construction company, which operates in the occupied and destroyed Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Severodonetsk, the portal "Važne priče" revealed. This company has therefore been under EU sanctions since 2024.

 

In addition to the R-Stroy company, Sibirev owns the Wine & Crab restaurant together with Svetlana Kuznetsova - the stepson of Gazprom's first man Alexei Miller and the daughter of Putin's former secretary Marina Yentaltseva. Previously, Sibirev was the director of Stroytransneftegaz, owned by Gennady Timchenko, a close friend of Vladimir Putin.

 

Svetlana Perevalova

Perevalova is the wife of a Russian war profiteer, and she received Serbian citizenship on March 14, 2024. The decision was signed by then-Prime Minister Ana Brnabić.

 

Svetlana Perevalova's husband, Viktor Perevalov, is the founder of the company "VAD", which profits from the construction of roads in the annexed Crimea. The company's revenues in 2020 were more than 900 million euros. The company built a road across the Kerch Bridge, the "Tavrida" highway, and a road from Simferopol to the western coast of Crimea. Because of these projects, "VAD" was placed under EU and US sanctions in 2018. Svetlana Perevalova herself, at least since 2018, worked as a manager at "VAD", according to data leaked from the Russian Federal Tax Service.

 

Dmitry Sergeyev

 

Sergeev is a close friend of Russian Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev, son of FSB General Nikolai Patrushev. He was granted citizenship by Prime Minister Ana Brnabić on March 8, 2024.

 

Nikolai Patrushev was the director of the FSB, head of the Russian Security Council, and assistant to Vladimir Putin. He is also working with Minister Aleksandr Vulin, who traveled to Moscow in 2021 and handed over to Patrushev recordings of wiretapping of the Russian opposition in Belgrade, politicians Andrei Pivovarov and Vladimir Kara-Murza. After that, Pivovarov was arrested and soon sent to a colony in Karelia. At the suggestion of Vulin and Patrushev, the authorities of Russia and Serbia formed a “working group to combat ‘color revolutions’”, with the task of preventing protests and organizing monitoring of activists, journalists, and human rights defenders.

 

Patrushev Jr. and Sergeyev have been working together for a long time. From 2010 to 2018, when Patrushev was the head of the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank), Sergeyev was his deputy. When Patrushev became the Minister of Agriculture, Sergeyev joined the government with him. Sergeyev is now the general director of the United Grain Company (OZK) and the Union of Grain Exporters, two key organizations in the field of exporting agricultural products to world markets.

 

Viktor Shendrik

 

Former member of the Russian intelligence agency FSB Viktor Shendrik was granted Serbian citizenship on May 18, 2023. The decision to grant him citizenship was signed by Prime Minister Ana Brnabić.

 

Shendrik is the chairman of the supervisory board of the Moscow Boxing Federation, and before that he served in the “intellectual special forces” of the FSB “Vympel”. Shendrik is also the head of the security service of Russian Railways and the former head of the security service of Putin’s friends, the oligarchs Arkady and Boris Rotenberg. Shendrik, as “Važne priče” previously reported, sponsors the neo-Nazi division of Espanyol fans fighting against Ukraine.

 

Anastasia Kolesova

 

Kolesova was granted Serbian citizenship on February 8, 2024, by the decision of then-Prime Minister Ana Brnabić

 

Kolesova is the daughter of the former head of the Radioelectronic Technologies Concern (KRET) and former governor of the Amur Region, Nikolai Kolesov, who is under EU sanctions. Kolesov currently heads the Helicopters of Russia holding, which owns most of the country's helicopter manufacturing plants. Kolesov's younger daughter is the director of Tatsocbank and a former deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan.

Anastasia's husband, Nikolai Urayev, also received a Serbian passport. The two previously took turns managing the Kazan-based Elekon factory, a key manufacturer of parts for intercontinental ballistic missiles, military aircraft, helicopters, submarines, ships and satellite systems. The company is under sanctions by the US, the UK and Canada.

 

Urayev is now the head of the Krasnogorsk Kombinat Van Plant, which produces prison transporters, military trucks, mobile communication systems and other military equipment. He was previously a member of the board of directors of the Kazan Optical-Mechanical Plant (KOMZ), which produces night vision devices, thermal imagers and optical sights for weapons, and the richest councilor of the Kazan City Assembly.

 

Kirill Kratli

 

Kratli received Serbian citizenship on March 14, 2024, and the decision to this effect was signed by Ana Brnabić.

 

Kratli is the son-in-law of Alexei Tkachev, a State Duma deputy and brother of the former governor of the Krasnodar Territory and former Minister of Agriculture of Russia Alexander Tkachev. The Tkachev brothers are under EU sanctions.

 

Kratli heads the company "Mirteh", which supplies agricultural machinery. "Mirteh" imports equipment and parts from Europe, Canada, Turkey and South Korea, and sells it to numerous companies under international sanctions. The company cooperates with the largest Russian agro-industrial holding "Agrokompleks" owned by the Tkachev family, as revealed by the media outlet Protokol. "Agrokompleks", as previously reported by the Wall Street Journal, has received more than 160 thousand hectares of agricultural land in the occupied regions of Ukraine, but it has not yet been placed under sanctions.

 

Svetlana Kijko

Former Prime Minister Miloš Vučević signed a decision granting Kijko Serbian citizenship on October 3, 2024. A year earlier, Svetlana's children - a daughter and son, as well as her daughter-in-law - also received citizenship.

 

Svetlana Kijko is the wife of Colonel General Mikhail Kijko, former deputy director of the Federal Drug Control Service. Kijko was fourth on the list of the richest wives of Russian officials in 2016. Although she

did not have a developed business, she reported an income of 548 million rubles (5.8 million euros) - 156 times more than her husband.

 

After the anti-narcotics service was disbanded, Mikhail Kijko became deputy general director of the Almaz-Antey concern, one of the largest manufacturers of missile and air defense systems in the world. He is currently the director of the company Aeromax, which develops unmanned aerial vehicles, and is owned by AFK Sistema. AFK is under sanctions by the UK and the US, but not by the European Union.

 

Andrej Shamshurin

Shamshurin was granted Serbian citizenship on July 4, 2024, by a decree signed by then Prime Minister Miloš Vučević.

 

According to the business portal Tadviser, Shamshurin is the vice president of the company Aquarius. This company was among the first in the USSR to start producing computers, and now it is engaged in the production of radio equipment: from servers to microchips important for the production of weapons and means of encrypted communication for Russian special services. According to the newspaper Kommersant, Aquarius, together with the state atomic energy corporation Rosatom, began producing microcontrollers for data encryption in 2024. They made this move in order to replace Western components that had become unavailable due to sanctions. Aquarius was placed under US sanctions in 2022 for supporting the Russian military.

 

Olga Rejman

Rejman is the wife of former Russian Communications Minister Leonid Rejman and was granted citizenship by former Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević on October 3, 2024.

Her husband currently owns the company "Heliprom SPB", which services and repairs helicopters and aircraft equipment for the Cosmonaut Training Center and the National Guard of Russia. The company previously cooperated with the Ministry of Defense.

 

Zufar Garayev

 

Garayev is the chairman of the board of directors of AK Bars, the largest bank in Tatarstan, which is under US and EU sanctions, and he received Serbian citizenship on February 29, 2024, by a decision signed by Ana Brnabić.

 

Sergej Jemdin

 

Jemedin received Serbian citizenship on September 1, 2022, thanks to the decision of Ana Brnabić. His wife and three children also received Serbian citizenship.

 

Until spring 2023, Jemdin was the head of Demetre, a holding company that is one of the most important players in the grain export market and whose terminals can load up to 15 million tons of grain per year, which is a fifth of total exports from Russia. This company had a half share in the United Grain Company (OZK), which manages the country's grain infrastructure.

 

Jekaterina Blokhina

Blokhina was granted Serbian citizenship on February 8, 2024, by a decision signed by Ana Brnabic.

 

Blokhina is a manager of the Radioelectronic Technologies Concern (KRET), and was a co-owner of the company KOMZ-Baygis, through which weapons optics from the Kazan Optical-Mechanical Factory are sold. According to the business portal SPARK, Blokhina is a member of the board of directors of the Kopir factory, which produces parts for aircraft, missile and naval equipment, and the director of the investment company Tavrida in occupied Crimea.

 

Roman Karusev

 

Karusev was granted Serbian citizenship on February 8, 2024, with the decision signed by Ana Brnabić.

 

According to previously leaked income tax returns in Russia, Karusev was paid by the company "Radioelektronika im. Shimko", which is part of KRET. This company is the main manufacturer of the "friend or foe" identification system that automatically distinguishes its own troops from enemy forces and equipment.

 

 

Aleksej Lyamin

 

Lyamin received Serbian citizenship on October 20, 2022, according to a decision signed by Ana Brnabić.

 

Lyamin is the director of the Belaz trading company, in which the Presidential Sports Club of Dmitry Lukashenko, son of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, owns a third of the shares. Belaz cooperates as a distributor with the Belshina company, which supplies tires for Russian military vehicles, the Belarusian Research Center previously revealed.

 

His son also received Serbian citizenship.

 

Ruslan Alisultanov

Alisultanov became a citizen of Serbia on March 14, 2024, by a decision signed by Ana Brnabić.

He was the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Chechnya and Deputy Mayor of Grozny. Now, through his company “Health & Nutrition” (formerly “Danone Russia”), he owns the assets previously abandoned by the French company Danone. The CEO of Alisultanov’s company is Yakub Zakriyev – the nephew of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Zakriyev is also the former mayor of Grozny and the current head of Kadyrov’s administration.

Members of Ruslan Alisultanov’s family – his two daughters and two sons – were also granted Serbian citizenship.

 

Chermen Mamijev

 

Mamiijev was granted Serbian citizenship on January 25, 2024, with the decision signed by Ana Brnabić.

 

Mamijev is the former Minister of Ecology of North Ossetia. In 2021, he was sentenced to three years of probation for abuse of office after, as the court found, he ordered the payment of more than 400 million rubles (4.2 million euros) from the budget of the national project "Ecology" even though there was no basis for it.

 

Vitaly Lushnikov

Lushnikov was granted citizenship on December 26, 2024, by a decision signed by then Prime Minister Miloš Vučević.

 

Lushnikov is one of the richest people in the Belgorod region. In 2023, the Bel.ru portal ranked him third on the list of the richest businessmen in the region.

 

Evgeniy Gabov

 

Gabov was granted Serbian citizenship on February 24, 2022, and the decision was signed by Prime Minister Ana Brnabić.

 

Gabov is a businessman who headed the Electrotechnical Company. He left Russia after criminal proceedings were initiated against him for embezzlement of 351.5 million rubles (3.7 million euros) and abuse of authority in the amount of 2.7 billion rubles (29 million euros). A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

 

Vasily Shevchik

 

Shevchik was granted Serbian citizenship on February 29, 2024, and the decision was signed by Ana Brnabić.

 

Vasily Shevchik is a Tyumen businessman close to the regional government. Together with his brother Vladimir, he owns "Sibintel-holding", a company that deals with investment projects in the Tyumen region. Vladimir Shevchik's wife, Natalya Shevchik, was the deputy governor of the region from 2001 to 2019, and is now the deputy speaker of the regional parliament.

 

Sergey Lomakin

 

He became a citizen of Serbia on January 23, 2025, by a decision signed by Prime Minister Miloš Vučević.

 

Lomakin is a billionaire with an estimated fortune of $1.2 billion. He is the co-founder of the chain of discount stores "FixPrice", which moved to Kazakhstan at the beginning of the war and became the most profitable Russian franchise, according to Forbes magazine. In March 2025, the arrival of this chain in Serbia was announced.

 

The newspaper "Nedeljnik" recently announced that Lomakin had been granted Serbian citizenship, stating that his Cypriot "golden passport", which he had acquired thanks to investments in this country, had previously been revoked in November 2024.

 

Yuri Kushnerov

 

Kushnerov received citizenship on February 20, 2025, by a decision signed by Miloš Vučević.

 

Together with his partner Aleksandr Govor, Kushnerov bought the Russian "McDonald's" in June 2022 and reopened the fast food chain, but under the name "Ukusno - dot". Govor and Kushnerov also bought the Russian assets of the Finnish packaging manufacturer Huhtamaki for 151 million euros.

 

As "Nedeljnik" recently wrote, Kushnerov is known as the investor of a luxurious "castle" in Rijeka Reževića, Montenegro. According to Vijesti, 70 million euros were invested in the construction of the complex.

 

Yevgeny Stršalkovsky

Stršalkovsky received citizenship on March 24, 2025, and the decision to this effect was signed by Miloš Vučević.

 

Yevgeny is the son of Vladimir Stršalkovsky, former CEO of a leading Russian metal production company and the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium. Until September 2022, he headed the organization "Heroism of the Centuries", which is registered for the reconstruction of historical military events.

 

As previously reported by "Nedeljnik", Yevgeny Stršalkovsky has also attracted the attention of the world media due to his lifestyle, especially after he bought a luxurious estate in Scotland.

 

Fedor Emelianenko

 

Emelianenko was granted Serbian citizenship on October 20, 2022, with the decision signed by Prime Minister Ana Brnabić.

 

Emelianenko, a multiple heavyweight mixed martial arts champion, recently ended his sports career.

 

Although he received a Serbian passport in 2022, two years later he said that he would not leave Russia. "If some force majeure happens that forces me to leave my homeland, then I will probably move to

Serbia. I feel at home there. Why Serbia? Because it is, first of all, an Orthodox country, and secondly, because it is a country with many sufferings and many suffering people live there. Although if it is bad in Russia, it will be even worse in Serbia. Because it is a small country that everyone is constantly trying to insult."

 

Aleksej Galeev

 

Galeev was granted Serbian citizenship on February 24, 2022, by a decision signed by Ana Brnabić.

Galayev trained famous Russian boxers and worked for many years at the Olimp boxing academy. His student was Umar Kremlev, now the head of the International Boxing Association (IBA) and the former head of the Russian Boxing Federation (FBR).

 

Iman Khalidova Received Serbian citizenship on January 23, 2025, and the decision was signed by Milos Vučević.

Iman Khalidova is the daughter of Chechen boxer and member of the FBR executive committee Sumaid Khalidova. He organized a boxing tournament in Grozny in honor of Akhmad Kadyrov, the late leader of Chechnya. The event was opened by his son Ramzan Kadyrov, the current leader of Chechnya.

 

Pyotr Kostyakov Kostyakov received Serbian citizenship on October 24, 2024, and the decision was signed by Milos Vučević.

According to the latest available data from May 2023, Kostyakov is the senior vice president of the state bank VTB. His wife also became a citizen of Serbia.

 

Vitaly Buzoverja

 

Buzoverja became a citizen of Serbia on August 29, 2024, and the decision was signed by Miloš Vučević.

 

Buzoverja is a senior vice president of the state bank VTB, known in the media for having purchased a Cypriot passport in 2020. His wife also received Serbian citizenship.

 

Dmitry Snesar