Yakub Zakriyev, the nephew of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, was a Serbian citizen for only four days. The Serbian government did not respond to Radio Free Europe’s questions about why citizenship was granted and then revoked from the nephew of the leader of the Russian republic and a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zakriyev is on the US and UK sanctions lists for his involvement in Russian institutions.
Also under sanctions by the US and the European Union is the leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who has faced accusations of serious human rights violations for years, including kidnappings, torture, murder and persecution of the LGBT community. The decision to grant citizenship to his nephew was signed on April 24 by Serbian Prime Minister Đuro Macut. “This cannot be explained by rational politics,” says former Serbian diplomat Sreqko Đukić. “It is personal interest, repayment of debt to Russia and Kadyrov,” he adds to Radio Free Europe.
Macut, four days after the decision to grant citizenship, also signed the decision to revoke it.
For the latest action, the Serbian Government referred to the Law on General Administrative Procedure.
This law states that the decision may be repealed “to eliminate a serious and immediate danger to the life and health of people, public safety, public order and tranquility, or to avoid disturbances in the economy.”
Djukic believes that Serbia withdrew the decision on citizenship due to warnings from the European Union. “It is clear that Serbia is required to stop the practice of granting citizenships, so that the European Union does not impose certain measures,” he says.
The EU did not respond to a request from Radio Free Europe for comment on the decision to grant and then revoke citizenship for the nephew of the Chechen leader. Serbia has also in previous years granted citizenship through a special procedure, according to which citizens of other countries can acquire it if such a thing is “in the interest of Serbia.” More than 150 Russians, after the invasion of Ukraine, have received Serbian citizenship.
The European Union, in its 2025 report, has warned Belgrade that this poses a potential security risk to the EU, as Russian citizens, in this way, gain the right to travel visa-free to the EU. Although it is a candidate for EU membership, Serbia maintains close relations with Russia and has not joined sanctions against this country, due to the invasion of Ukraine.
WHO IS JAKUB ZAKRIYEV?
Ibrahim Zakriyev, also known as Yakub, became one of the youngest mayors in Russia – at the age of 27. In 2018, he was appointed mayor of Grozny – the capital of Chechnya. In February 2020, he took over as head of the administration of the president and government of Chechnya, and later became deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture. Zakriyev was also appointed director of the Russian branch of the French company Danone, after Russia confiscated it. Immediately after the transfer of ownership, Danone in Russia was renamed the joint-stock company H&N (Health & Nutrition).
In March 2024, Putin canceled the nationalization of Danone, while Russian media reported that an agreement had been reached to sell it to private individuals. According to reports, ownership was to be split 50:50 between Kadyrov’s nephew and the Tatarstan-based Vamin company. In May 2024, the sale of Danone’s Russian branch was completed and it passed to the Vamin company.
According to a 2023 statement from the US State Department, Zakriyev is on the sanctions list due to his ties to the family of Ramzan Kadyrov, as well as for being “the head of the Russian branch of a European company, after the Russian Federation confiscated its assets.”
GRANTING CITIZENSHIP, “NON-TRANSPARENT”
For former diplomat Djukic, granting citizenship in Serbia is non-transparent and raises “many questions and doubts.” Djukic emphasizes that in most cases, it is unclear what interest Serbia has in granting citizenship to Russian citizens, as the authorities do not publicly explain such decisions.
In this specific case, he believes that Serbia, “in principle,” had no interest in granting citizenship to Zakriyev.
But, he adds that this is not the first time that Serbia has granted citizenship to “a Russian citizen under sanctions, or someone from his close circle who is under sanctions.”
WHO OBTAINED SERBIAN CITIZENSHIP?
At least four Russian citizens obtained Serbian citizenship despite being under sanctions by the UK and Canada at the time, the investigative network BIRN reported in 2025. That year, Radio Free Europe reported that Serbian citizenship was also granted to Iman Sumajdovna Khalidova, who, according to all accounts, is the daughter of Sumajdov Khalidov – an entrepreneur and athlete from Chechnya.
In May 2023, Khalidov himself obtained Serbian citizenship through a special procedure.
In early August 2022, Russian businessman Oleg Cherepanov received a Serbian passport, and in late July, Arkady Mutavchi, former executive director of a supplier for the Kremlin’s Property Management Department, also received a Serbian passport.
The number of citizenships granted by the Serbian Government increased significantly since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in 2022, and after the imposition of sanctions against Russia and people close to the Kremlin.
From 2010 to 2015, between five and 13 people were granted Serbian citizenship within a single year, while the first year of the war in Ukraine brought a record number of decisions to grant citizenship: 64.
Since then, more than 150 Serbian citizenships have been granted to Russian citizens alone.
WARNINGS FROM BRUSSELS
The European Union has repeatedly warned against the practice of granting Serbian passports to Russian citizens. The latest enlargement report for 2025 assessed that Serbia’s visa policy is not fully in line with that of the European Union and that granting passports to Russian citizens is “a cause for concern.” “Strict security checks should be applied when granting Serbian citizenship to Russian citizens, as Serbian passport holders benefit from visa-free travel to the EU,” the report said.
In this context, the EU made several recommendations to Serbia to further align with the EU’s visa policy.
CHECHNYA-SERBIA RELATIONS
Chechen officials have visited Serbia several times in recent years. Dzhambulat Umarov, former deputy prime minister of the Russian republic of Chechnya and information minister, presented his book in 2023 at the Russian center for science and culture in Belgrade, known as the Russian House.
Umarov is a close associate of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
In November 2022, the representative of the head of Chechnya to Arab and Muslim countries, Turko Daudov, visited Serbia, where he also met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. Daudov wrote at the time on his Instagram page that he conveyed Kadyrov’s greetings to Vučić and the entire Serbian people. He said that “the centuries-old fraternal relations between Russia and Serbia have once again demonstrated their strength.”
In response, Vučić stated that the Russian people are fraternal towards the Serbs and that these relations “cannot be destroyed under any pressure”. At that time it was not known what the main purpose of the meeting and the topic of conversation of the two politicians were. In January of that year, a delegation from Serbia visited Chechnya and the countries decided to cooperate in boxing.
According to a statement from the Serbian Boxing Federation, Kadyrov intended to organize training for the Serbian and Russian national teams in Grozny and further develop relations with Belgrade “for the benefit of both countries.” In 2021, an initiative to establish a religious school in Novi Pazar, southwestern Serbia, which would be named after Akhmad Kadyrov, the Chechen leader’s late father, was also publicly mentioned. But, for now, there is no official information about the implementation of this initiative. (RFE)