Russia raises citizenship renunciation fee to 2,376 euros

The fee for renouncing Russian citizenship in Estonia has risen from just over 300 euros to 2,376 euros since August, ERR reported.

Igor Taro, Estonia’s interior minister, said it was too early to assess whether the increase would reduce the number of applicants.

Andrei Malashkin, a former Russian citizen, began applying for Estonian citizenship in 2022. The process took nearly three and a half years and was completed last year, he said.

“When the war began, I started thinking that Russian citizenship was no longer convenient for me,” Malashkin said.

He said renouncing his Russian citizenship took the most time. He recalled waiting about four months for an appointment at the Russian consulate, only to find that some of his documents and certificates had expired. He then had to join the queue again and wait another three months.

At the time, renouncing his Russian citizenship cost slightly more than 300 euros. Since August, the same procedure in Estonia has cost 2,376 euros.

“I had heard about it, but I did not believe it was true. People cannot spend that much money on a document,” Malashkin said.

Taro said the increase was linked to Russia’s difficult situation. He suggested that Russia may not have enough money to maintain its foreign missions and that a rise in the number of people renouncing their citizenship may have made the process harder for its staff to manage.

“Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, no one may take measures to prevent people from renouncing their citizenship. Looking at that general principle, Russia is violating the declaration to some extent at present,” Taro said.

He said the high fee was unlikely to deter people with a strong need to renounce their Russian citizenship, although the impact was still difficult to assess.

“Unfortunately, when it comes to Russian state fees, the Estonian state cannot do anything about them. The amount is certainly large, but if a person has a strong need to renounce this citizenship, I think the money can be found,” Taro said.

Interest among Russian citizens in obtaining Estonian citizenship has remained high in recent years. Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board received 465 applications last year and 217 applications by July this year.