I used to come here to renew my Russian passport and, on one noteworthy occasion, in March 2000, to vote in the Russian presidential elections. This time, I had an altogether different purpose: I was here to renounce my Russian citizenship. I was born in the Soviet Union and inherited my Russian citizenship by default, aged 11. Russian citizenship is what formally makes you a member of Putin’s Russkiy mir (the Russian world), and potentially a tool of the Kremlin’s subversion and influence operations in Russia’s immediate neighbourhood. “On the cessation of Russian citizenship.” I skimmed the text.

Source: The Guardian April 09, 2026 07:01 UTC