Over the past three years, around 50,000 Russian citizens have moved to Serbia due to disagreement with the policies of the regime in Moscow. What were their experiences there and their hopes for here, and how have they adjusted? What was their first impression of Serbia and the Balkans, and how has their migration impacted our society and habits?
Owing to its unusual geopolitical position in the rapidly changing world, Serbia has, since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, joined the list of countries representing safe havens for those Russian citizens who have decided to leave their home country. Some out of fear of economic sanctions and isolation, some out of fear of the military draft, but all due to disagreement with the regime’s policies.
Likely, you would rather be reading this article in Russian, after buying your groceries in one of the shops that sell Eastern European products, or while having coffee in one of the many Russian-owned coffee shops. In other words, that you yourself are part of the community that has changed the social landscape in Serbia, unlike any other over the last hundred or so years – starting with the many educated Russian citizens who came to what was then the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to find refuge from the October Revolution. They, too, left a permanent mark on the economy, architecture, cultural life, and social fabric of Belgrade, Novi Sad, and many other places, especially the towns and villages of Vojvodina and Šumadija.
The Russian community in terms of numbers
Over the last three years, the media has been flooded with reports of hundreds of thousands of Russians moving to Serbia, often conflating the number of entries with the actual number of our new fellow citizens. News of new cultural centers, restaurants, and shops is also often framed as proof of a vast new community forming within our existing one. The truth, according to the latest data offered by the Statistical Office of Serbia (RZZS), is that there are around 100.000 foreign citizens legally residing in Serbia, 53.000 of whom have a Russian passport.
It is also true that because of the ambivalent stance of the Serbian government, the language barriers, and specific life circumstances, most Russians in Serbia were reserved at first. Their priority was mutual aid. Bridges towards the outside community would have to wait. Most of the people who arrived in Serbia come from the creative, commercial, and tech industries – according to the Serbian Business Registers Agency, 10.000 new businesses have entered the market. Some of them didn’t succeed, some are still running, but the effects on Serbia’s GDP are obvious.
“My compatriots here can be divided into three groups. The first are couples with children, with at least one partner who has a solid income or sustainable backup plan. The second group is young people – artists, creatives, and people who can easily talk to anyone, both online and offline. The third group is folks who spend their days in front of a computer and would be considered reserved in Russia as well, working from home and ordering in. They might go out to unwind during the weekend, but in a foreign country, they find socialization harder”, Sergei Bakyov, a Muscovite DJ and producer, tells us.
In his words, very few Russians would have chosen Serbia as a holiday destination before 2022. Those on the lower end of the economic spectrum would travel somewhere within their vast homeland, without the need to use an international passport, while the well-off would choose a more exotic option.
The initial reservations held towards the Serbian community can also partly be explained by the generational fear of surveillance.
“Socialism was much more flexible in Yugoslavia than in the Soviet Union. You have to be careful what you say in a Russian pub, because the consequences could be severe. In a Serbian kafana, people say all sorts of stuff. That’s how it used to be, at least”, Bakyov explains. He had visited Belgrade before, and says it always had the vibe of a party metropolis.
To learn more about the Russian community in Serbia, their personal stories of adjustment, and the deep cultural shifts redefining our neighborhoods, get the digital edition of City Less Ordinary.
Author: Stefan Slavković
Sculptures: Anna Dial
