Russians obtain Romanian passports en masse using forged documents – Le Monde
Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian nationals have been illegally obtaining Romanian passports through corruption schemes and forged documents to bypass Western sanctions and legalise their status in the European Union.
Source: Le Monde
Details: The large-scale scheme is based on falsifying claims of "Romanian ancestry". Russians are exploiting Romania's repatriation law that allows citizenship to be granted to descendants of people who lived in the territory of the former Kingdom of Romania between 1918 and 1940. This territory includes present-day Moldova as well as parts of Ukraine's Odesa and Chernivtsi oblasts.
Since many archives were destroyed during the World War ll, those involved in the scheme invent relatives who supposedly lived in the required areas. According to police officials and judicial sources cited by Le Monde, Russians have also used the personal data of Ukrainian soldiers killed on the line of contact to obtain passports.
One of the hubs of the scheme was the village of Vârfu Câmpului, near the Ukrainian border. Its population doubled over a decade, from 3,420 residents in 2011 to more than 7,000 in 2021. In November 2024, law enforcement officers uncovered a network that had registered around 10,000 citizens of Moldova, Ukraine and Russia at addresses in the village.
The investigation said forged documents had been issued in exchange for bribes over many years by employees of two registry offices with the involvement of local residents.
Quote: "Criminal networks have formed over many years, exploiting administrative loopholes to produce forged documents. They make no secret of their intentions: social media is full of advertising targeting Russian-speaking citizens, offering them 'European citizenship'. Agencies promise a prosperous life in the EU thanks to a Romanian passport, which they offer to help obtain for 4,000 to 7,000 euros, with special Christmas discounts.
Russian media personality Kseniya Sobchak, who has a large social media following, promoted one such agency in a YouTube video in 2023, encouraging people to obtain 'Romanian citizenship' through this 'restitution' programme.
These agencies claim their activities are completely legal, but in reality they operate using methods long practised by Ukrainian and Moldovan networks with the involvement of Romanian officials, some of whom have previously faced criminal investigations."
Details: The Romanian Prosecutor General's Office reported uncovering a criminal group formed in 2022 that included seven Ukrainian citizens. The group worked with local lawyers and officials. In 2025 alone, they submitted more than 900 naturalisation applications using forged documents.
The most recent searches in the case took place on 18 December 2025, including at the town hall in Bucharest's Sector 6. Earlier in the autumn, the municipality had already annulled 68 illegally issued passports, with a further 300 cases still under review.
The Prosecutor General says it only takes one inattentive official, one who is willing to "turn a blind eye" or one single loophole for fraudsters to exploit human, legal and organisational weaknesses.
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