Russian elite use Kyrgyzstan as stepping-stone to third-country citizenship

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's residents fear that the unprecedented rate of naturalisation of fleeing Russian elites may negatively impact their country, including by attracting secondary sanctions.

Countries risk punishment themselves if they help Russia dodge international sanctions imposed on it after it invaded Ukraine last year.

Never before has Kyrgyz citizenship been so popular among wealthy, influential Russians.

Russian politicians, former high-ranking officials, their relatives and business leaders are today getting Kyrgyz passports by the dozens, not out of great love for Kyrgyzstan but in order to help them obtain third-country citizenship, observers say.

A number of prominent Russians have received Kyrgyz citizenship, a list of whom was included in Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov's Decree No. 359 issued last October, The Moscow Times reported March 25.

The new citizens' full names and dates and places of birth perfectly match those of high-profile Russians, it reported.

Among them were Dmitry Zelenin, former governor of Tver province; Natalia Barshchevskaya, daughter of Mikhail Barshchevsky, the Russian government's representative in the country's Constitutional and Supreme courts; Anton Shkurenko, co-founder of the Bitzlato crypto exchange; and Alexander and Mikhail Zadorin, sons of Valery Zadorin, owner of the Fragrant World chain of liquor stores.

"Moscow residents have raced to get Kyrgyz passports," The Moscow Times reported, noting that Japarov's decree listed about 50 residents of Moscow and a similar number from other parts of Russia who had become Kyrgyz citizens.

Observers attribute the sudden demand for Kyrgyz passports to the desire of wealthy citizens of Russia, now a pariah state, to eventually obtain a passport from a third country.

An escape from 'Z life'

Russian elites are using Kyrgyzstan as a legal path to get out into the world, said Ilya Shumanov, director of Transparency International Russia.

"They have chosen Kyrgyzstan as one of the jurisdictions that help in obtaining a second passport," said Shumanov, as quoted by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Kyrgyz service March 27.

"Accordingly, this second passport effectively removes restrictions on global travel, on doing business. And what's more, it apparently also simplifies banking compliance," he said. "Basically, life becomes simpler for anybody."

But Kyrgyzstan faces certain risks by issuing passports to Russians, Shumanov warned, since criminals could also take advantage of the scheme.

"Not so long ago, US authorities exposed the Bitzlato crypto exchange, which was laundering money. And one of the exchange's founders is mentioned among the Kyrgyz passport recipients," Shumanov said, an apparent reference to Shkurenko.

Those who have fled to Kyrgyzstan include Mikhail Zhukhovitsky, a financier from Moscow.

Last November, he boasted on Facebook that he lives a quiet life, takes walks in the mountains and eats food bought straight from the farm. He also said that he used his connections to help a dozen other Russians obtain a Kyrgyz passport.

"I realise that in the coming years all life in the Russian Federation will be on a war footing, in every area," wrote Zhukhovitsky. "The freedoms that still remain will entirely disappear. Also, there will be no humour. Making jokes will be dangerous. It will be 'Z life'".

Zhukhovitsky expressed not only what motivates many of his compatriots to flee Russia but also the real reasons for obtaining Kyrgyz citizenship.

"You either buy [citizenship in] Türkiye, where the citizenship-for-investment programme will end in a few months, or you get a Central Asian passport. And then from there you buy [citizenship from] some island country," he wrote on Facebook at the end of March, addressing Russians.

Public outrage and concern

The number of Russians seeking Kyrgyz passports has increased significantly since the war began.

In the first nine months of 2022, 1,631 Russian citizens applied for Kyrgyz citizenship versus 385 in the same period of 2021, Nazgul Abakova, director of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration at the Kyrgyz Ministry of Digital Development, told Kaktus.media last October.

But Kyrgyzstan's naturalisation of Russian "big shots" involves an element of corruption, according to Transparency International Russia.

The Kyrgyz government has not commented on any of these allegations. However, the news has sparked heated public debate.

On social networks, users expressed outrage that sanctioned Russian elites are using Kyrgyzstan for their own purposes and exposing it to the risk of secondary sanctions.

Syimyk Kolbayev, an activist from Bishkek, criticised the hypocrisy of Russians looking for foreign citizenship.

"All these years they supported the regime of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. They calmly accepted his persecution of dissidents and violation of the rights of his own country's citizens," he told Caravanserai. "But now, when they themselves start having problems, they flee the country."

"They have no backbone, no desire to fight for the well-being of their country," he said. "They are cowards."

Altynbek Bayaly, an employee at Bishkek-based NGO MEXT Alumni KG, commented on a post about the passport news, citing the story of two acquaintances from Kalmykia, Russia.

Their applications for Kyrgyz passports received rush processing after they each paid $20,000, he said, without giving supporting evidence.

'Headed for sanctions'

Some Kyrgyz Facebook users would like the Russians to have a taste of the medicine they administer to Central Asians seeking Russian citizenship.

Ulan Dzhumakov of Bishkek suggested that Russian officials and business owners undergo testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or AIDS, have their fingerprints taken and take a Kyrgyz language competency test.

Others, like Akylbek Sheraliev, who did not identify his city, expressed concern that Russians' acquisition of Kyrgyz passports might influence Western countries to stop issuing visas to Kyrgyz applicants, viewing them as "pro-Russian".

"We're headed right into sanctions," posted Aigul Nasirdinova of Bishkek, a professor at the International Academy of Architecture of Eurasia.

"We must do something about it," echoed Bishkek resident Elena Chaikovskaya.

Like many in Bishkek, economist Elmira Suranchiyeva fears that helping Russian citizens elude Western sanctions could have negative consequences for Kyrgyzstan.

"Clearly, we don't seem to be crossing the red line -- we don't re-export products that can be used for military purposes, but if news reports increasingly present us as a country helping Russia circumvent sanctions, then don't expect anything good," she told Caravanserai.