Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Ukrainian businessman, former member of parliament and one of the most prominent major investors in Ukraine’s metallurgical industry Vadym Novynskyi received Serbian citizenship, reports the Serbian business portal Parametar.
As BAGNET writes, the decision to admit Novynskyi to the citizenship of the Republic of Serbia was made by the country’s government 24 September 2026 and published in the official Službeni glasnik. The document was signed by Serbian Prime Minister Đuro Maćut.
Novynskyi was born 3 June 1963 in Stara Russa on the territory of present-day Russia, but he built a significant part of his business career in Ukraine. He obtained Ukrainian citizenship in 2012.
In Ukraine Novynskyi is primarily known as the founder of Smart Holding and a long-time partner of Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM group in the mining and metallurgical group Metinvest. Smart Holding owned a 23,76% stake in Metinvest. The group’s business interests also included shipbuilding, agriculture, real estate, and other areas.
At the end of 2022 Novynskyi announced the transfer of his assets into a trust. Metinvest later stated that Novynskyi is not the company’s beneficiary and does not exercise actual control over it.
Novynskyi was also involved in political activity. In 2013–2022 he served as a member of the Ukrainian parliament in several convocations, was part of the Party of Regions faction, and later the Opposition Bloc.
In December 2022 Ukraine imposed personal sanctions against Novynskyi. In January 2025 the State Bureau of Investigation and the Security Service of Ukraine informed him of suspicions of treason and incitement of religious enmity against the former member of parliament. Ukrainian media identified the individual as Vadym Novynskyi. The businessman himself rejected the charges against him and called them politically motivated.
In June 2025 Ukrainian law enforcement also announced an investigation into possible tax evasion totaling more than 4 billion hryvnias concerning the former deputy whom the media identified as Novynskyi. At present these are suspicions and investigations, not criminal convictions that have entered into force.
After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Novynskyi publicly spoke out against the war.
Serbian authorities have so far not publicly disclosed detailed motives for granting Novynskyi citizenship and have not reported any potential investment projects by the businessman in Serbia.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Український бізнесмен Вадим Новинський отримав громадянство Сербії". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Bagnet.