OREANDA-NEWS  Serbia has suspended plans to issue passports to Russians and other foreign citizens who have lived in the country for at least one year, after the EU warned that such an initiative might not be approved in Brussels, and it would suspend visa-free travel for the Balkan country. This is reported by the Financial Times newspaper.

The bill was proposed by the Serbian Government in April. It provides that one year of temporary residence in the country will be enough for foreign citizens working in local companies or engaged in self-employment to obtain a Serbian passport. The European Union believes that such measures threaten the security of the association. "If the granting of citizenship is deemed to pose an increased risk to the internal security and public policy of the member states, the visa-free regime may be suspended," the European Commission said in a statement sent to the Serbian authorities.

As the FT points out, news about possible changes in legislation in the last few weeks has caused a resonance in the Russian-speaking segment of social networks.

In December 2022, it was reported that since the beginning of the military operation in Ukraine, more than 104 thousand Russian citizens have received a residence permit in Serbia for a period of one year. The number of Russians in the country is not specified.