MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. Douglas Santos, a Brazilian footballer currently playing for Zenit St. Petersburg FC in the Russian Premier League (RPL), received a Russian passport, Irina Volk, a spokesperson for the Russian Interior Ministry, said on Friday.

"Today, my colleagues from the Migration Department of the Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry for the city of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, presented the footballer with a Russian passport <…>," she told TASS.

"I congratulate the new citizen of our country with this remarkable event," Volk added.

On Monday, October 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an official document granting the Russian citizenship to Brazil’s Santos.

Santos, 30, has been playing as a left-back for Zenit St. Petersburg FC since July 2019. He is already a five-time winner of the Russian championship, a two-time winner of the Russian Cup, and the holder of Russia’s Super Cup.

The Brazilian defender has scored seven goals and provided 33 assists in his 198 match appearances with Zenit St. Petersburg FC.

Playing for his Brazilian national side in 2016, he won a silver medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Having received the passport of a Russian citizen, Santos is likely to appear playing in Russia’s two international friendly fixtures next month.

The Russian Football Union’s (RFU) press office announced to TASS on Thursday that the country’s national football team will play two friendly matches next month and they will be officially registered by the world’s governing body of football, FIFA.

The Syrian Football Association’s (SFA) announced on Thursday that it inked with the RFU an agreement to hold a friendly football match in Russia’s Volgograd on November 19. Later that day, the RFU press office also announced that the Russian national football team was scheduled to play a friendly match against the team from Brunei and the game will be held in the country’s southern city of Krasnodar on November 15.

The Russian national football team is currently 34th in the world’s governing body of football (FIFA) World Ranking and Syria occupies the 93rd position of the ratings list. In their previous encounter, the USSR (the Soviet Union) defeated Syria 2-0 on their home turf in Damascus in 1988.

Russia’s football ban

The International Association Football Federation (FIFA) announced on February 28, 2022 that the Russian national team and all professional clubs representing the country were barred from taking part in FIFA tournaments.

In turn, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) made a similar decision in regard to the Russian national football team’s participation in UEFA tournaments.

Both FIFA and UEFA cited Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as grounds for their respective bans on Russian teams’ participation in competitions.

Since sanctions were introduced, the Russian national football squad has played a host of friendlies against other countries, namely against Kyrgyzstan (2-1), Tajikistan (0-0), Uzbekistan (0-0), Iran (1-1), Iraq (2-0), Cameroon (1-0), Kenya (2-2), Cuba (8-0), Serbia (4-0) Belarus 4-0 and Vietnam (3-0).