Kyrgyzstan Blocks Citizenship for Russian Nationals

Kyrgyzstan has officially halted granting citizenship to Russian nationals. According to Caravan-info.kg, all previously available legal pathways — including ancestry-based applications — are now blocked, and new requests are no longer being processed.

Passport consultant Mikhail Zhukhovitsky confirmed that Russians can no longer obtain Kyrgyz citizenship under any circumstances. “Forget about Kyrgyzstan. It’s now impossible to get Kyrgyz citizenship. No amount of money or connections will help,” he said, noting that applications submitted after January 24, 2025, are being ignored. He also warned that intermediaries and officials continue to collect fees despite the dead-end process, fully aware they are misleading applicants.

Previously, Russian citizens often used facilitated programs to acquire Kyrgyz passports. These allowed them to open bank accounts, obtain foreign visas, and operate businesses abroad. Following Western sanctions, demand for these schemes soared, with passport offers popping up on platforms like Avito and Yandex, priced up to one million rubles and processed within six months. Kyrgyzstan was also popular as a workaround for Schengen visa access.

In 2022 alone, over 2,000 Russians obtained Kyrgyz citizenship, including elite individuals — namesakes of high-profile politicians and entrepreneurs, such as Dmitry Zelenin, Natalia Barshevskaya, and Anton Shkurenko of Bitzlato.

Azattyk mentioned others, including Skolkovo Foundation executive Kirill Kaem, sanctioned businessman Ilya Gambashidze, and Vladislav Bakalchuk — ex-husband of Wildberries founder. Citizenship stats cited by the Department of Population Registration differ slightly.

According to reports, about 400 Russians received citizenship in 2021, 1,122 in 2022, 5,373 in 2023, and 7,122 in 2024. Most were ethnic Kyrgyz or dual nationals returning home due to the war in Ukraine.




According to 24.kg, over 23,000 applications for Kyrgyz citizenship were submitted in 2024. Deputy head of the population department, Bekzat Ibraimov, stated most applicants were ethnic Kyrgyz from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Only around 1,000 Russians received passports that year. Meanwhile, online ads for "fast-track" Kyrgyz passports surged, often citing official ties or guaranteed approval, with prices ranging from a few thousand to $20,000.

Ibraimov denied the existence of government-backed corruption, stressing these were fraud schemes. The agency has referred cases to law enforcement, but prosecuting the intermediaries — many of whom operate from Russia — remains difficult.

The boom in naturalizations has caught the attention of international banks. Hong Kong institutions now flag Kyrgyz documents as high risk, potentially leading to banking restrictions and account rejections.