Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Belgrade applied a special procedure that allows issuing a passport in the “interest of the state.”
Serbia granted citizenship to former Ukrainian Member of Parliament and businessman Vadim Novinsky. In Ukraine he is wanted on suspicion of treason. The decision to grant citizenship through an accelerated procedure was signed by Serbian Prime Minister Đuro Maċut. This was reported by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Thus Novinsky became one of the hundreds of foreigners to whom the Serbian authorities, led by the Serbian Progressive Party of Aleksandar Vučić, have granted passports through an accelerated procedure. Since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, several hundred Russian citizens have also obtained Serbian citizenship this way. Many of them have ties to the regime of the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Novinsky secretly visited the Office of the President: “Skhemy” published a video
Novinsky is a former Ukrainian MP and businessman. He was declared wanted on suspicion of treason, and Ukrainian law enforcement agencies described him as the “curator of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.” He left Ukraine shortly after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
Later Novinsky settled in Croatia, where he purchased an estate of more than 1400 square meters. The land plots around it cover more than 2,5 hectares and include vineyards and orchards. A lawyer for the businessman from one of the Spanish law firms told journalists that Novinsky is a “staunch supporter of Ukraine” and has allegedly long been under sanctions by the Russian Federation.
According to his defense, that in itself excludes the validity of claims about his ties to Russian structures. At the same time, the lawyer’s letter did not provide evidence that Novinsky is currently under Russian sanctions. Earlier it was reported that Russian sanctions against him were lifted in 2020, after which no new restrictions were imposed. The businessman’s representative also called unacceptable the campaigns that, in his words, are aimed at discrediting, demonizing, and criminalizing Novinsky.
In March 2026, after a long hiatus, Novinsky gave an interview to the German Compact.TV. The piece was published under the headline “This oligarch wants to overthrow Zelensky!” In the description he was called an entrepreneur, a politician, and one of the richest people in Ukraine, and it claimed that President Volodymyr Zelensky is allegedly persecuting him because he disagrees with the war policy.
In the interview Novinsky criticized the Ukrainian president, expressed his own position on the war with Russia, the status of the Russian language, the Minsk agreements, sanctions against him, and the situation around the ROC, which is mimicking the UOC-MP. Novinsky said that the most important condition for Ukraine’s security is friendly relations with Russia.
He said that if Kyiv had neighborly, friendly, and strategic relations with Moscow, this would allegedly guarantee the country’s security. The businessman also claimed that he was forced to leave Ukraine because of warnings about possible criminal prosecution.
Since the start of the full-scale war, Serbian government decisions have granted citizenship to more than 300 Russian citizens. This figure is not final, since citizenship is also granted by the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs through the regular procedure after the required conditions are met.
Among the new holders of Serbian passports were Russian public figures, politicians, and businessmen. Some of them are on Western sanctions lists for supporting the war. Because of this practice, official Belgrade is under scrutiny by the European Union. Brussels warned that a Serbian passport allows Russian citizens to enter EU countries without a visa. The EU sees this as a potential security risk.
In his new interview Novinsky again said that he has always advocated for peace and the restoration of relations with Russia. He said that after the war began he also called for peace, preserving the lives of Ukrainians, and Ukrainian statehood. At the same time, his brother’s enterprise in Russian-occupied Crimea works for the Russian army and supports aggression against Ukraine.
The RNC sanctioned Lavra’s abbot Pavlo, Novinsky, and other UOC-MP clerics — media
Recall that in April 2023 a court at the request of the SBU seized Vadim Novinsky’s assets worth more than 3,5 billion hryvnias. Seized were corporate rights to 40 Ukrainian enterprises and 30 gas wells. According to the investigation, Novinsky tried to re-register industrial facilities to affiliated commercial structures to avoid RNC sanctions.
In addition, in March 2026 media, citing sources in the Foreign Intelligence Service, reported that Novinsky financed the expansion of the Russian Orthodox Church’s branches in Europe. According to the Foreign Intelligence Service, he funds about 90% of new parishes oriented toward Ukrainians in cities where there is no Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Сербія надала громадянство колишньому українському народному депутату Вадиму Новинському". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZN.ua.