Almost 30,000 Russian citizens have crossed the border into Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion
11 July 2024 15:13
ЕКСКЛЮЗИВ
Between 24 February 2022 and 30 June 2024, 29,781 Russian citizens crossed the state border of Ukraine. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine responded to a request from Komersant ukrainskyi 
.
Compared to previous years, the number of Russians allowed to enter Ukraine has decreased significantly. Most Russian citizens entered Ukraine before the war in Donbas began.
- 2013 – 10.8 million
- 2014 – 2.5 million
- 2015-2019 – the figures fluctuated at 1.5 million per year
- 2020 – 400 thousand
- 2021 – 500 thousand
- february 2022 – June 2024 – 29,781 thousand.
Moreover, Russians today have the opportunity to obtain Ukrainian citizenship. It is known that in the first year and a half of the full-scale invasion, 243 Russian citizens received Ukrainian passports.
According to the State Migration Service of Ukraine, the main categories of people who received Ukrainian citizenship were mainly women and children seeking family reunification.
As a reminder, after 24 February 2022, several prominent Russians were granted Ukrainian citizenship. In particular, Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov, who actively supports Ukraine and criticises the Russian authorities.
Another significant case is Mikhail Fridman, a Russian oligarch who applied for Ukrainian citizenship. Friedman was born in Lviv and lived there for the first 17 years of his life. Although the Russian gallery owner Marat Gelman claims that the co-owners of Alfa-Bank Ukraine, Mikhail Fridman and Petro Aven, have been granted Ukrainian citizenship, there is no official confirmation. And in October 2022, the State Migration Service of Ukraine refused to answer MP Oleksandra Ustinova’s question about the Ukrainian citizenship of billionaire Mikhail Fridman.
The author: Anastasia Fedor
