Elena Koposova and her family, after a year and a half of waiting, received permanent residence in Serbia. As soon as they received the decision that her appeal was accepted that she does not have to leave Serbia, Russian democratic society the family of Sergej and Irina Tereh, who found themselves in the same situation as Elena Koposova, came forward.
Irina, Sergej and their son Mark came to Serbia in 2019 from the Russian city of Yaroslavl, where Sergej worked in the school system, and for a short time in the opposition administration of that city, where he was responsible for education. This family has been living in Banja Koviljača for five years, where they bought a house and built a family hotel.
Irina Tereh tells "Vreme" that on August 7, 2023, they submitted a request for permanent residence, but that request was rejected at the beginning of October. Since they stayed in Serbia on the basis of a temporary stay that they extended every year, last year their request to extend their temporary stay in Serbia was also rejected.
They did not receive any other explanation except that they represent "some danger for the Republic" of Serbia, and they do not know exactly what kind.
They wrote an appeal against decisions for both permanent residence and temporary residence, but at first the appeals were not accepted without explaining why. In all complaints, Irina Tereh points out, they asked to be told what the reason is and why the state of Serbia has a problem with their family. They also suggested that they come and answer all the questions, but no one invited them.
Letter to President Aleksandar Vučić
In December 2023, this family addressed the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. The letter remained unanswered.
"We have not received any response from President Vučić. We also attached pictures of our family, we explained everything that concerns us - who we are, what we did in Russia, what we do in Serbia, what our child is like, who has many awards, diplomas and is the pride of the school in Banja Koviljača. But, without an answer, no one is interested in our family's problems", says our interlocutor.
A series of problems
Currently, the case of the Tereh family is in the Administrative Court, and the family resides in Serbia without a legal basis, with great insecurity and a whole series of practical problems related to the absence of residence permits.
Unlike Elena Koposova, Irina Tereh says that they were not banned from living in Serbia, nor were they given a deadline to leave Serbia. Because they have neither temporary residence nor permanent residence, this relative has to extend her visa every 30 days by leaving and then returning to Serbia, which is a big problem.
"We can't use the health insurance we had for the past five years, we can't renew our car registration, we can't work and renew our work permit." We were dealing with renting out accommodation and we didn't have any problems, that's why we had to freeze our agency as well", emphasizes our interlocutor.
Reason – unknown
Sergej Terek is originally from Ukraine, that is, he was born in Kiev, but he is a Russian citizen. If the problem is his Ukrainian, says Irina Tereh, then it is discrimination.
Piotr Nikitin stated in a statement that he can only speculate about the real reasons for the attempt to expel the Tereh family.
"Although the Terekhovs, like the absolute majority of Russians in Serbia, do not support the Russian dictator Putin and his war, they have never expressed their views outside of a private framework. It is possible that the attempted expulsion is related to the fact that Sergej Terek was born in Kiev, that Ukrainian guests stayed in his hotel (which was known to the Lozna police), or it has something to do with the fact that Sergej was a well-known figure in his home city of Yaroslavl Nikitin wrote.
He adds that the real reason cannot be known because the MUP once again, contrary to the law, omitted any valid explanation for its decisions, regardless of their far-reaching consequences for an entire family.
Finally, Nikitin concludes in the statement, none of the above has anything to do with the security of the Republic of Serbia, and cannot have anything to do with the security of the Republic of Serbia, while another family with a minor child is deprived of a safe settlement in Serbia that they have been building for five years.
