Russia’s Passportization Policy toward Unrecognized Republics

While passportization, Russia’s policy of systematic distribution of citizenship in the post-Soviet space, is again attracting experts’ attention, most observers simply regard it as an example of Russia’s “expansionist” policies toward former Soviet countries. This article explains that Russia conducted passportization in Abkhazia and South Ossetia on an ad hoc basis to deter Georgia from regaining its control over these territories. Moreover, this article examines the situation in Transnistria and suggests that passportization has not been applied uniformly to unrecognized republics. Instead, Russia has used citizenship factors in different ways, depending on its aims and the situation in each instance.