It must be strange to be Russian and living in Serbia these days. On the one hand, Serbs are very welcoming. The country’s historic ties with Russia and their shared Orthodox faith means that most Serbs have been happy to see tens of thousands of Russians settling in their country since the start of the Ukraine war. On the other hand, if you are Russian in Serbia, you might find you are only welcome for as long as you keep your mouth shut.

Once seen as a safe-haven for Russians, Serbia is cracking down on those who dare to speak out against Russia’s war in Ukraine. Most recently, Elena Koposova, who has lived in Serbia with her family since 2019, had her application for permanent residence denied by the interior ministry on the grounds that she poses an ‘unacceptable security risk’. She was given an expulsion order and told that she had 30 days to leave the country. She is currently appealing the order.

Koposova, a 54-year-old literary translator from St Petersburg, is not an obvious target. She suspects that the decision to deny her permanent residence is linked to an open letter she signed back in March 2022 expressing opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. ‘Bombs should not fall on people’s heads. That’s why I put my signature. That’s the only reason’, Koposova told the Serbian newspaper Danas.

Koposova’s is not an isolated case. There have been several reports of Russians being denied temporary residence, or entry into Serbia, on the grounds that they are a national security risk. Most of the time those targeted are prominent anti-war activists, such as the former Russian opposition politician Vladimir Volokhonsky, who left Russia in March 2022 after he was arrested for publicly opposing the war.

Along with Peter Nikitin, Volokhonsky founded the Russian Democratic Society (RDO) in Serbia. Both have faced pressure from the local authorities to be quiet. In July 2023, Nikitin spent two days at Belgrade airport when he was temporarily denied entry, despite having lived in the country for seven years with his Serbian wife. Two weeks later, the authorities rejected Volokhonsky’s request for an extension of his temporary residence. He is now living in Germany.

What is ironic about the Serbian government’s crackdown on anti-war Russians is that their position is not so dissimilar to the government’s. Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić has repeatedly criticised Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, most recently at a Balkans summit in Albania, where he signed a statement condemning Russia’s aggression. The government is seemingly punishing Russians for expressing a position it ostensibly supports.

Why then is the Serbian government punishing those who express opposition to a war that Serbia officially condemns?There are certainly elements within the government with close ties to Russia. Aleksandar Vulin, Serbia’s former state security chief, has even been awarded a decoration from the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) for close cooperation between the two spy agencies.

Vulin was alleged to have been involved in wiretapping prominent Russian opposition activists who met in Belgrade before the war, and who were later jailed in Russia. Vladimir Kara-Murza, the now-imprisoned Russian opposition politician, has accused Vulin of sharing information that resulted in the arrest of Andrei Pivovarov, who led the Open Russia group, and was sentenced to four years in prison in February 2022.

Taking a page out of the Kremlin’s playbook, it appears that the Serbian government is targeting even the most moderate critics of the war to create a chilling effect. As Nikitin says, ‘if you can’t sign an anti-war letter, then there’s really nothing you can do’. Indeed, the fate of Koposova has left many Russians spooked. One Russian friend tells me that Koposova’s case has made her think twice about expressing opposition to the war: ‘It is disturbing to realise that I can end up in the same position if I express discontentment too loud.’

It is unclear whether threats of expulsion will dissuade others from protesting. It didn’t stop Russians from paying their respects to Alexei Navalny, or from marking the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As the same friend tells me, such threats ‘did not stop me from protesting or bringing flowers to the Russian embassy when Navalny was murdered. My relatives from Russia told me not to go, they were worried that I could have problems with the government… but I still don’t think they can get me here.’

But it is not only the Russian or Serbian governments that people are afraid of here. Another Russian friend tells me that he is reluctant to speak negatively about Vladimir Putin because he believes it will cause problems with local Serbs. Russians here are well aware that a majority of Serbs are sympathetic to Russia, and that many even support the war.

Ilya Zernov, a 19-year-old anti-war activist from Russia, discovered this the hard way when he was attacked by Serbian nationalists in January 2023 for painting over graffiti calling for ‘Death to Ukraine’. He was left with a perforated eardrum and was later banned from entering Serbia. Travelling from Germany to give testimony at the trial last November, Zernov was stopped at the border. Asking why he had been barred from entering the country, border police responded sinisterly: ‘You know’.

Such stories are normally told about authoritarian states, not ‘flawed democracies’ on their way to EU accession. The fate of Russian dissidents living in Serbia is a sign that the government is moving down an increasingly illiberal path.As one Russian friend put it, the government’s actions suggest that ‘Serbia and Russia might be closer than we think they are. Not only when it comes to Orthodoxy or common interests, but also when it comes to political oppression’.