As The Insider reported, Sweden’s Migration Agency on September 7, 2026 denied Alexey Makarov a refugee travel document. The decision states that part of the information on which the conclusion is based is classified.
The decision shows that Makarov received refugee status and permanent residence in Sweden on June 30, 2011. In 2014 and 2019, he was already issued refugee travel documents, and the last one was valid until September 26, 2024. He requested a new document on December 17, 2024.
On February 6, 2026, Säpo sent the Migration Agency an assessment recommending that Makarov be denied on security grounds. The agency says it gave him the opportunity to respond to the intelligence service’s conclusions, but found his arguments insufficient and did not separately verify whether they met the other requirements for issuing the document.
Makarov told The Insider that at the Migration Agency he was read Säpo’s position about some of his activities abroad that allegedly threaten Sweden’s security, but he was not told which specific country was involved. He said that the only country outside Sweden where he had spent a long time and done anything was Ukraine.
After the start of the full-scale war, Makarov returned to Ukraine in June 2022. At first, as a volunteer without a contract or salary, he fought as an assault machine gunner in the 95th Separate Air Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; then he moved to the International Legion, and later to the “Siberian Battalion” created on the initiative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine.
According to Makarov, he was wounded near Avdiivka in November 2023, returned to the front after treatment, and in February 2024 took part in covering the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city. In March 2024, he took part in a raid by Russian units into border areas of Russia and suffered a serious hand injury. In August 2025, he was also denied Swedish citizenship, with the decision citing Säpo’s position on national security.
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