In 1926, General Pyotr Wrangel, the last of the White Army commanders and a notable Russian émigré in the country that later became Yugoslavia, noted that only the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes extended a helping hand to Russia. Other major states, with which Russia had fought wars and shed blood, hurried to recognize the Bolshevik regime. After the October Revolution, about 40,000 Russians, including church and military leaders, intellectuals, and Cossacks, found refuge in this kingdom. The Cossacks preferred to establish their settlements in Vojvodina rather than remain in cities. Among the émigrés were many educated individuals: 13% had higher education, and nearly two-thirds had graduated from gymnasiums or secondary schools. At that time, half of the Kingdom's population was illiterate.

In 1922, Pyotr Wrangel settled in Sremski Karlovci, where the Russian anti-communist elite arrived with him. Among them were Mikhail Rodzyanko, the former chairman of the State Duma, and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church with Metropolitan Anthony. General Mikhail Alekseev, Russian academics, scientists, doctors, engineers, officers, and artists also came to Serbia.

With the White Army, 16 professors of medicine arrived in Serbia, including Alexander Ignatovsky, who became one of the founders of the medical faculty in Belgrade. Russian émigrés also established their Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in Belgrade, considered the only true Russian Church. It was founded in 1921 in Sremski Karlovci, where Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky held the first meeting.