Overview
- Leonova announced on Instagram on Tuesday that she has obtained a German passport and shared photos of the new travel document.
- Her post said the naturalization followed an application from September 2024 and described the bureaucratic process as long and difficult.
- The 39-year-old moved from Wolgograd to Germany in 2008, studied in Cologne and Düsseldorf, and built her career as a long-standing 'Let's Dance' professional.
- Reporting recalls that Leonova once faced a deportation threat after losing a job but secured a 2021 offer that led to a permanent residence permit and paved the way to citizenship.
- Fans and many 'Let's Dance' colleagues publicly congratulated her in comments, a response that underscores the symbolic as well as legal significance of the passport for her life in Germany.