the number of those reporting a second citizenship and residence permit has doubled

The number of Russian citizens who reported to the Ministry of Internal Affairs that they received a second citizenship or a residence permit abroad has doubled this year compared to the previous year. This is reported by TASS with reference to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

From January to September 2023, 68,000 Russians sent relevant notifications, of which 38,000 reported citizenship of other countries and 30,000 – about having a document for permanent residence abroad.

As reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, most often Russian citizens notify about the availability of citizenship or residence permit of Israel, Turkey, Armenia, Germany, UAE, Spain, Finland, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Cyprus and the USA, as well as Ukraine.

After the start of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and especially after the announcement of mobilization in September, hundreds of thousands of people left Russia. Their exact number is not known, since some of them have returned, others, living most of the time abroad, sometimes come to the country. In December 2022, the edition of The Bell estimated that more than 500 thousand people left Russia, but it is difficult to estimate how many of them remain abroad now.

Mainly, Russians who have left the country receive residence permits in the EU countries, as well as states that are not part of the Schengen zone, such as Turkey, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Montenegro, Georgia and Armenia. According to Eurostat, Russians last year also submitted more than 15 thousand applications for asylum in the EU, positive decisions were made on approximately two thousand applications.

Reporting of second citizenship or residence permit is prescribed by Russian legislation. At the same time, it is possible to do this only while on the territory of Russia, that is, people who were included in the statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, notified the agency precisely while in the country. It is not known how many Russians received a second citizenship or residence permit in the last hour and did not notify the Ministry of Internal Affairs about it.