In 2025, only four nationals from Tajikistan have acquired Russian citizenship, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reports, citing an undisclosed document. This marks a significant decline compared to previous years, as the total number of foreign nationals gaining Russian citizenship this year reached 71.
In contrast, in 2024, the number of foreign citizens who obtained Russian citizenship was much higher, with 209,000 people granted Russian passports.
While the exact number of Tajik nationals who acquired citizenship last year is not available, it is known that in the first half of 2023, around 87,000 citizens from Tajikistan received Russian passports.
Meanwhile, 23,012 Tajik nationals acquired Russian citizenship in 2016; 29,039 in 2017; 35,732 in 2018; 44,707 in 2019; 63,389 in 2020; 103,681 in 2021; and 173,634 in 2022
Official statistics regarding the recipients of Russian citizenship have not been published since 2023, making it impossible to independently verify the figures reported by RIA Novosti.
According to the report, the largest group of new Russian citizens in 2025 were French nationals, followed by citizens of the United States and Germany. In total, 32 French nationals, 6 Americans, and 5 Germans were granted Russian citizenship. Tajik and Italian nationals, with only 4 recipients each, ranked next.
The report also noted that three nationals from Ukraine, two from Lebanon and Serbia, and one each from Morocco, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Syria, Iran, Cameroon, the United Kingdom, Croatia, and Yugoslavia acquired Russian passports this year.
Experts have observed a sharp decline in the number of foreign nationals obtaining Russian citizenship in 2025. This marks a notable shift, as in previous years, particularly before 2023, there was a significant influx of nationals from Central Asian countries, especially Tajikistan. From 2016 to 2022, over 473,000 citizens of Tajikistan had received Russian citizenship. However, since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs stopped publishing these statistics.
Additionally, the Russian government has introduced a simplified procedure for granting citizenship to individuals from other countries in an effort to attract recruits to the Russian military. However, the country has remained silent on reports of coercion, threats, and manipulation of migrant workers into signing mandatory contracts with the military.
Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands of Tajik citizens have been sent to fight in the conflict. To date, the bodies of hundreds of fallen soldiers have been repatriated to Tajikistan.
