The Serbian authorities have revoked a decision to grant citizenship to Yakub Zakriev, the nephew of Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov, over ‘public security concerns’.
This decision was reported on Tuesday by the Serbian publication Nedeljnik, citing a document published in the government gazette.
According to the publication, Zakriev’s name was not explicitly mentioned in the new decision. However, it cited the act under which Zakriev’s citizenship was approved.
As grounds for the revocation, the Serbian authorities referred to a provision of the law on general administrative procedure allowing an enacted decision to be annulled if necessary to remove a serious and immediate threat to people’s lives and health, public security, public order, or to prevent disruption to the economy.
Several days earlier, the Serbian government had granted Zakriev citizenship as an exceptional measure. The document was signed by Prime Minister Đuro Macut. The justification stated that admitting the foreign national served the ‘interests of the Republic of Serbia’.
Zakriev is the son of Kadyrov’s elder sister Zulay. In 2018, at the age of 27, he was appointed mayor of Grozny, becoming one of the youngest heads of a major city in Russia. In February 2020, he became head of the administration of the Chechen leader and government, and was later appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the republic and Minister of Agriculture.
In July 2023, Zakriev was appointed head of the Russian division of Danone after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree transferring the company’s assets to the temporary management of the Federal Agency for State Property Management. The Russian Danone business was later renamed H&N (Health & Nutrition).
In March 2024, Putin cancelled the decision on temporary state management of Danone’s Russian assets. Russian media later reported that the sale of the business to private investors had been approved. According to journalists, the buyers were expected to be Zakriev and the Tatarstan dairy holding Vamin. The deal was later completed.
In December 2024, according to Russian media reports, ownership of Vamin was transferred to Chechen Deputy Agriculture Minister Ruslan Alisultanov. Investigative outlets had earlier reported that he had also received Serbian citizenship.
Zakriev is under sanctions imposed by the US and UK.
In November 2025, the European Commission published a report stating that the issuance of Serbian passports to Russians ‘creates potential risks to EU security’, as Serbian citizens are entitled to visa-free travel to the EU.
