Leaving Odessa on April 3–6, the first major large group of refugees from Russia (about 1600 people) reached the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in May 1919.

According to Professor M. Jovanović, by the beginning of the 1920s, several hundred Russian settlers remained from the first wave in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes agreed to receive 20,000 Russian emigrants who reached the shores of the country in November–December 1920, a significant part of which arrived from Constantinople and the camp at Gallipoli.

For example, at the end of 1922, 983 disabled Russians were transported from the sanatoriums of Constantinople, and in February 1924, 367 students of the Khabarovsk Cadet Corps and 21 officers of the Far Eastern Army were received from Shanghai.

In September 1941, at the initiative of Major General Mikhail Fedorovich Skorodumov, the German authorities allowed the creation of the Russian Protective Corps, in which at least 3 thousand Russian emigrants from Yugoslavia managed to serve during the war years (soon came under the command of General Boris Aleksandrovich Shteifon).

It is noteworthy that the first harsh note of the Stalinist Foreign Ministry (not a party, but a state criticism of the USSR against Yugoslavia) was sent to Belgrade precisely in connection with violations of the rights and persecution of Russian emigrants.

These persecutions ceased immediately after the elimination of political pressure from the Tito regime, which reconciled with the USSR after the death of Stalin.

Their life in blooming Yugoslavia was not cloudless, the authorities made it difficult to obtain citizenship, were reluctant to nostrify diplomas, and there were problems with employment.

The vast majority of the young generation of modern Russian-speaking citizens of Serbia are descendants of the "Soviet" and "Russian" waves of emigration.

Initial waves consisted of mostly young Russians (with their families) that worked in IT, and have since reopened or registered their firms and companies in Serbia.

The second major center of concentration of the Russian population is the city of Novi Sad in the South Bačka District of Vojvodina province.