Russians with EU residence permits up 61% in Spain since 2021, while numbers drop in Latvia, Estonia and Czechia
Eurostat data show the overall number of Russian citizens holding EU residence permits grew 14% between 2021 and 2025, even as Latvia, Estonia and Czechia saw sharp declines.
The number of Russian citizens holding valid residence permits across European Union countries grew by nearly 105,000, or 14%, between the end of 2021 and the end of 2025 — rising from 772,000 to 877,000. The figures, based on Eurostat data, were published by the Volna project.
Germany had the largest number of Russian residents with temporary or permanent status at the end of 2025, at 218,000. Spain followed with 117,000, then Estonia with 78,000, France with 67,000, and Serbia with 63,000.
Spain sees sharpest rise
Spain recorded the steepest increase in Russian residence-permit holders over the four-year span, adding 44,000 people, a 61% jump. Cyprus posted the second-largest increase, up 27,000, followed by France, up 14,000.
Declines in the Baltics and Czechia
Several EU countries saw the opposite trend. Latvia recorded the largest drop, losing 15,000 Russian residence-permit holders, followed by Estonia, down 9,000, and Czechia, down 8,000.
According to Eurostat, the number of Russians settling in the EU climbed sharply in 2022 and 2023 before leveling off in the years that followed.
