The se­cur­it­isa­tion of cit­izen­ship in Russia’s 2023 regime

De­vel­op­ment sum­mary

Vanessa Ruget ana­lyses how Russia’s 2023 cit­izen­ship law and sev­er­al sub­sequent de­crees in­stru­ment­al­ise cit­izen­ship. The frame­work re­shapes nat­ur­al­isa­tion through a new civics test, re­vised oath-of-allegiance re­quire­ments, com­puls­ory mil­it­ary re­gis­tra­tion and an em­phas­is on “tra­di­tion­al” values.

The art­icle also con­siders pass­ports for people who sign con­tracts with the armed forces and the 2023 ex­pan­sion of of­fences trig­ger­ing de­nat­ur­al­isa­tion. Taken to­geth­er, these meas­ures se­cur­it­ise cit­izen­ship in order to pro­mote loy­alty to the regime, sup­port mil­it­ary re­cruit­ment and con­strain dis­sent by nat­ur­al­ised cit­izens.