Russian football official and former intelligence officer Sergei Priadkin received citizenship Of Serbia according to an accelerated procedure, by decision of the Government of Serbia, announced (RSE).
Radio Free Europe (RSE) came to this information by analyzing official documents Vlade.
According to the decision that bypassed the regular procedure, Prjadkin became a citizen of Serbia on September 3, while the document signed by Prime Minister Đur Mazut was published in the Official Gazette a day later.
The government referred to a legal provision that allows a foreigner to obtain Serbian citizenship in an accelerated procedure if his admission is in the interest of Serbia.
However, the decision did not state why Priadkin's citizenship is of interest to the state. The government did not respond to RSE's questions about the reasons for such a decision.
RSE states that Prjadkin has close ties with some important people in Serbian football, among whom is the general manager of Crvena Zvezda and the godfather of the President of Serbia. Zvezdan Terzic.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022, some Russian public officials, politicians and businessmen close to the authorities of Vladimir Putin have also received Serbian citizenship, among whom, according to earlier research by RSE, are also persons who are under sanctions from Western countries for supporting the war.
Because of this practice, Belgrade is under the scrutiny of the European Union, which has warned that the Serbian passport allows Russian citizens to enter the EU without a visa and that this may pose a security risk.
Among the most influential people in Russian football
Priadkin was among the most influential people in Russian football for more than a decade. He led the Russian Premier League for 14 years, until his resignation in 2021, and also held the position of vice president of the Russian Football Federation.
His work was followed by journalistic investigations about alleged corruption risks and conflicts of interest in the transfer of players, which the Russian Federation denied.
He later got a post at UEFA. According to the writing of the Russian agency TASS from June 2025, Priadkin then stated that he had a second advisory mandate in the European football organization, which will last until 2027, that is, until the end of the term of UEFA president Aleksandar Ceferin.
In 2019, Priadkin received the Order of Honor from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Before entering the football structures, however, he built a career in the intelligence services. His previously published official biography on the website of the Russian Football Federation stated that he was trained by the KGB, the Soviet secret police, and that he worked in the Russian intelligence structures during the 1990s.
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