Serbian authorities have canceled the residence permit of Yevgeny Irzhansky, a Russian citizen who organized concerts of anti-war bands and arts events in Serbia, the Belgrade-based expat NGO Russian Democratic Society announced on August 29, the latest in a series of harassment incidents targeting anti-war Russian expatriates.
Irzhansky has worked as an event organizer in Serbia since 2022 and recently received a Serbian residence permit, along with his wife.
On August 28, he was summoned to the Serbian Foreign Ministry and questioned by an employee about his activities as a concert organizer. The employee then left Irzhansky waiting and returned later to inform him that the residence permits had been canceled.
No reason was given for the annulment of the permits, but Irzhansky was given a paper to sign that indicated that he was a "threat to the national security of Serbia," the Russian Democratic Society told the media.
Irzhansky was given a week to leave Serbia and has been banned from entering the country for one year. He intends to appeal the decision, the Russian Democratic Society said.
Irzhansky told RFE/RL that his job, as well as his views on Russia's invasion of Ukraine are most likely the reason why the authorities in Serbia canceled his residence permit.
"Most of the Russian musicians are on the black list in Russia and most of them live outside of Russia because, if they appeared there, they would probably be imprisoned for their views on the war and on Putin," he said.
"And my views on this are clear, I am against Putin's policy inside and outside of Russia."
Other Russians who have been critical of the Kremlin or its conduct of the ongoing war in Ukraine have complained of being harassed by authorities in Serbia, whose president, Aleksandar Vucic, maintains good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has bucked EU pressure to join Western sanctions to punish the Kremlin for its unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Natasha Tyshkevich, a former journalist for the Russian student magazine Doxa who has been publicly critical of Russian officials, accused Serbian authorities of imprisoning her for around 40 hours at Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade after refusing her entry to the country. She eventually flew back to her place of residence, Malta.
In July, Serbia denied an extension of the temporary residence permit of Russian anti-war activist Vladimir Volokhonsky less than two weeks after temporarily denying entry to Peter Nikitin, the Russian national with whom Volokhonsky helped establish the Russian Democratic Society.*