By REAGAN MURPHY

PRAGUE, Czech Republic.- Uliana Rosenbaum left Russia 16 years ago to pursue a higher education in the Czech Republic, and would later have her baby in Spain. The baby was supposed to receive birthright citizenship inside the Russian Federation.

Instead, the Embassy refused to acknowledge her daughter’s birth, and insisted that her baby be given the status of a permanent resident. This would deny her health insurance, and deny her the right to vote or have the ability to get a passport until she’s proven her citizenship.

That leaves Uliana’s daughter without a state. 

Russian nationals are renouncing their citizenship to seek permanent residence within the Czech Republic. Ongoing tensions with the war on Ukraine has created a life of instability and economic crisis.

“I wish that society here in Europe learns how to differentiate the state from the people. I do believe there have to be sanctions against the state and state related people. I completely support those sanctions, but people who immigrated are not those type of people,” explains Rosenbaum, a 32 year old consultant from Perm, Russia.

In February 2022, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine under the orders of President Vladimir Putin, and currently occupies around 20% of the nation. Controversy has sparked between neighboring nations about what action to take regarding the ongoing war.

The Russia-Ukraine war currently stands as the the bloodiest and most violent war in European history since WWII.

This has encouraged tension amongst the community, and begs the question on whether the two groups will be able to function amongst the uncertainty of the outcome of the war. Sitting only two countries away from the Russian Federation, the Czech government remains in a state of hesitancy on what preventative measures to secure in order to protect themselves from possible assault.

For those trying to leave Russia and gain citizenship elsewhere, the process is not as easy. To become eligible for legal status of a differing nation, the government requires citizens to renounce their nationality, stripping them of all civil protections.

Czech legal counseling services Pravo and Slavo explain that the newly amended law, “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation,” gives harsher restrictions that one cannot renounce themselves if they have obligations to the government, or an impending trial.

This includes the inability for men to leave until mandatory military service is fulfilled.

For citizens like Rosenbaum, who has an open case against the government, she cannot leave either, or even attempt to get a foreign citizenship for her daughter.

She explains that opening a court case against the government is different from publicly speaking out against them. The mother has already exasperated that she does not expect to win her case, but she is so tired of not being able to obtain insurance or medical care for her child, much less a passport that will help her maintain individual freedoms.

On the other hand, publicly making comments condemning Putin and supporting Ukrainians or offering them aid is a one way ticket towards prison.

“What people don’t understand is we are afraid to speak up. We have Russian citizenship and speaking up or any donation can be used against me there, and speak up and show everybody how this is madness but they can use it against me there,” said Rosenbaum.

Since her daughter is not old enough to receive prison time, she explains that if she spoke up she’d receive a sentence equivalent to two people, not one.

The Czech Statistical Office has calculated that Russians make up the fourth largest group of foreigners residing in the Czech Republic at 37,524 people. In a similar study, they calculated over 612,000 of total immigrants to be from Ukraine. The nation currently stands at taking in the largest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita out of the entire European Union.

Harsher restrictions have been implemented by the Czech government on Russian rights and abilities to integrate into the culture to curb the intake of overall immigrants. One of these limitations is the inability for them to legally fly into Czechia, instead forcing citizens to travel by plane into another country further away, and then travel into the nation by various methods of transport.

The Schengen area is a travel zone that consists of 29 European nations and allows free navigation across borders for anybody holding documents from the agreed upon nations. But for some, they face restrictions with their Russian documents and papers, and cannot attempt to establish a visa in a Schengen nation to obtain the right to travel outside of the nation they are currently stuck in.

“As long as we remain dependent on Russian documents, we also remain dependent on the Russian state,” explains Maria Tikhonova, a mother from Moscow who immigrated to Prague seven years ago.

Tikhonova is an activist behind the grassroots community, Jsme Lidé, also referred to as “We Are People.” The movement began after the Czech government passed the Lex Ukraine Act in 2024, which strengthened sponsorship and access to aid for Ukrainian refugees living within the country. At the same time, it suspends applications for permanent residency for Russian nationals, leaving many families in a legal gray zone.

In a study published in 2023, 1/3 of all Russian students are looking to renounce their citizenship and move abroad for a better chance at an education that promotes free speech. Trailing second behind Slovenia, they supply around 7,500 students a year to Czech universities, a number that is rapidly dropping due to growing political tensions.

“After the war began, some Russian students were expelled from universities. Later, Russians were prohibited from studying in many academic programs on the grounds of ‘national security,’” Tikhonova explains.

The programs include technical studies like engineering and IT, majors that the Czech government is afraid could lend a hand towards building the Russian military. The Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) is facing the most repercussions, but Czech authorities have offered an alternative towards dropping out.

The other option is to publicly condemn the war and Putin’s actions in a letter towards the university.

“…we are in a situation where we are required to comply with the laws and jurisdictions of two countries that officially describe each other as ‘unfriendly states,’” she points out. “That creates enormous pressure and forces many people to live in a state of constant self-censorship.”

This reporter attempted to enter the Russian Embassy in Prague to retract a statement on the ongoing war and its effects on nationals living inside the Czech Republic.

At the gate, she was met with a broad shouldered man speaking Russian in a hushed tone to another man, who quickly left upon her arrival. Once it was the reporter’s turn, he explained in no more than five words he did not speak English and went inside to retrieve someone else.

Upon return, it was made clear that there would be no helping the reporter now, or anytime in the future and it may be wise to not return.

The Embassy of the Russian Federation has refused to comment at this time.

Directly across the Embassy, the railings lining the bridge are painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag as a reminder of the war and mass genocide their president and his Cabinet have encouraged and directly caused.

The roads have been renamed for fallen heroes, and has required the Embassy to change their mailing address to include Ukrajinských hrdinů, Ukrainian Heroes Street.

Rosenbaum is determined to help her, and so many other Russian voices be heard against the dictator in seat.

“We are all here going to the embassy and trying to vote against, and standing in insane queues to show that we are against (Putin), but they are not allowing Russians to come, students to come. They are cutting the people who are willing to change the situation, young minds, smart minds that will otherwise be prosecuted in the country.”