At least four sanctioned Russians have received Serbian citizenship

At least four Russian citizens were granted Serbian citizenship by the Serbian government despite being under sanctions by the United Kingdom and Canada at the time, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) reported on September 26.

Based on a review of official data from the Official Gazette, BIRN reported that three managers of Russian energy giant Gazprom, who are under sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom and Canada, have been granted Serbian citizenship.

According to BIRN, Serbian citizenship was also granted to the former deputy minister of agriculture of Chechnya and businessman Ruslan Alisultanov, who today presents himself as a leader in the Russian food industry.

Since taking office in April, Prime Minister Đuro Macut has signed 41 decisions granting Serbian citizenship to Russian citizens, including at the beginning of September.

Among them, BIRN reports, is Elena Mihajlova, a former member of the board of directors of the energy company Gazprom, who, according to publicly available information, has been on the sanctions list of the United Kingdom since May 2023 and Canada since October 2022.

“Macut is not the only one who has granted Serbian citizenship to individuals linked to Gazprom who were subject to UK sanctions at the time they became Serbian citizens,” BIRN adds.

Before Macut, then-Prime Minister Miloš Vučević granted citizenship to Elena Burmistova, the first deputy chairwoman of Gazprombank, who previously held a high position at Gazprom.

Burmistova received Serbian citizenship on March 27, 2025, and has been on the UK sanctions list since February 2023.

Aleksey Yankevich, Deputy Director General for Economics and Finance and member of the Management Board of Gazprom Neft, was granted citizenship on April 5, 2024, by then-First Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dačić.

Yankevich has been under UK sanctions since May 18, 2023.

“The British authorities have issued similar explanations for all three managers, stating that they have benefited from or provided support to the Russian government through their positions in the companies. As managers of companies operating in the energy and extractive sectors, which are of strategic importance to the Kremlin, they are identified as individuals who contribute to the economic and political stability of the Russian regime,” BIRN reported.

All three are subject to almost identical sanctions. “In the United Kingdom, their assets are frozen, they are banned from entering the United Kingdom, from providing fiduciary services and from holding directorships, and ships and aircraft owned, controlled, or operated by them are prohibited from entering British ports or landing at airports in the country,” the investigation added.

BIRN adds that, in addition to the British sanctions list, Elena Mikhailova is also on the Canadian sanctions list, in accordance with regulations adopted under the Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA).

Ruslan Alisultanov, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Chechnya, obtained Serbian citizenship by a decision signed by former Prime Minister Ana Brnabić.

“After French giant Danone left the Russian market in July 2023, the company sold its Russian operations the following year to a company owned by Asultanov since December 2024, who has since publicly positioned himself as a promoter of domestic food production,” BIRN writes.

Brnabić signed the decision on citizenship for Alisultanov and his family in March 2024. A year and a half later, on June 13, 2025, Alisultanov was added to the Canadian sanctions list.

BIRN has previously reported that Miloš Vučević granted citizenship to sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Boiko.

According to BIRN’s investigation, Boiko, one of the 100 richest Russians, was granted Serbian citizenship in March this year by a decision of Miloš Vučević’s government, even though he was already under sanctions by Australia, Poland, and Ukraine at the time. Through his company in Belgrade, Bojko has been doing business with companies in Cyprus and Russia for several years.

The Citizenship Law stipulates that the government may grant citizenship to foreigners whose admission to citizenship would be “in the interest of the Republic of Serbia.”

Although these government decisions are published in the Official Gazette, they do not state the reasons for the decision to grant citizenship.

“The Serbian government did not respond to BIRN’s questions about Serbia’s interest in granting citizenship to these individuals. Mihajlova, Burmistova, Yankevich, and Alisultanov also did not respond to BIRN’s questions sent through the companies they work for,” the text concludes.

The number of citizenships granted by the Serbian government has increased dramatically since the start of Russian aggression in Ukraine and the introduction of sanctions against Russia and people close to the Kremlin.

From 2010 to 2015, between five and thirteen people received citizenship each year, but the first year of the war in Ukraine saw a record number of citizenship decisions – 64.

Since then, more than 150 citizenships have been granted to Russian citizens alone.

Although Serbia is a candidate for EU membership, it has been reluctant for years to join the sanctions imposed on Moscow by Brussels and many other countries.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić cited the friendship between Belgrade and Moscow, Russian support in opposing Kosovo’s independence, and the energy importance of that country for Serbia, which is dependent on Russian gas, as reasons why Belgrade does not align its foreign policy with Brussels.

Serbia has therefore not imposed sanctions on individuals on the EU sanctions list.

/www.slobodnaevropa.org