Putin’s new law cancels citizenship for Russians who flee the war

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed on 4 August a law imposing “temporary restrictive measures” on Russian citizens living abroad who have been convicted in absentia and are deemed to be “evading the execution of punishment.” The legislation, officially titled “On Temporary Restrictive Measures Against Persons Located Outside the Russian Federation and Evading the Execution of Punishment,” takes effect immediately upon publication.

It applies to anyone outside Russia convicted under any article of the Criminal Code, as well as those hit with final administrative rulings under politically charged provisions – including “discrediting” the armed forces, violating foreign-agent rules, participating in “undesirable organisations,” calling for sanctions against Russia, or challenging its territorial integrity. Many of these articles have been routinely used against anti-war activists, independent journalists and opposition figures who left after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Justice Ministry will maintain a special register of such individuals; the prosecutor-general or deputy can add names. Once listed, the person faces:

Freezing of Russian bank accounts and blocking of remote banking apps and transfers.
Prohibition on selling or transferring property and vehicles (including via power of attorney).
Ban on using the government-services portal and electronic signatures.
Refusal of most consular services abroad, including issuance or renewal of international passports (the sole explicit exception is a certificate confirming the person is alive).
Inability to register as an individual entrepreneur or self-employed worker, obtain loans, receive state payments, or authorise others to act on their behalf.

Legal experts from the human-rights group Perviy Otdel (First Department) have described the cumulative effect as “the effective deprivation of citizenship” or “civic death”: the state retains the power to prosecute and demand compliance while stripping the practical rights normally attached to Russian citizenship.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians left the country after 24 February 2022. Conservative estimates put the number who remain abroad at roughly 650,000; broader tallies of those who departed (including temporary leavers) range from 800,000 to more than one million. The largest single outflow – several hundred thousand, with some estimates of 300,000–400,000 in the weeks after 21 September 2022 – followed Putin’s partial mobilisation decree, as draft-age men fled to avoid conscription. Many others, including IT specialists, entrepreneurs and professionals, left earlier or later for a combination of political, economic and business reasons, seeking to continue working and building companies outside Russia’s wartime restrictions.

The new measures come against a backdrop of persistent manpower shortages at the front. Russian sources and Ukrainian officials have reported discussions inside the Kremlin of a possible new wave of mobilisation after the September 2026 State Duma elections – potentially as early as October – involving anywhere from 100,000 to as many as 300,000–500,000 men. While no final decision has been announced and the Kremlin continues to emphasise “voluntary” contract recruitment, the timing of the citizenship-rights law underscores Moscow’s determination to tighten control over the diaspora that left precisely to escape such calls.

Edited by g.g.

Caption: Russian President Vladimir Putin during his meeting with ALROSA CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board Pavel Marinychev, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 04 August 2026. EPA/ALEXANDER KAZAKOV / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL