Large-scale scam with Romanian passports: how Russians buy EU citizenship to avoid sanctions — Le Monde
The authorities in Romania discovered an extensive corruption network that would have allowed almost 10,000 citizens of Russia and other states in the former Soviet space to illegally obtain European documents. According to the French publication Le Monde, some applicants would have paid up to 75,000 euros for a Romanian passport, which would have allowed them to move freely in the European Union and continue their economic activities despite international sanctions.
Romanian passport/PHOTO: shutterstock
The scandal attracted attention at the European level, after the investigators established that the Romanian citizenship was granted on the basis of forged documents. According to the available information, a criminal group made up of lawyers, notaries and registrars would have set up a mechanism by which the applicants were fictitiously registered as residents in a small town in northern Romania.
In the course of 2025 alone, more than 900 applications would have been submitted through this system, most of them belonging to Russian citizens trying to avoid the restrictions imposed by Western sanctions, notes the French publication.
Using the identities of deceased Ukrainian soldiers
The investigation also reveals a particularly serious aspect: according to prosecutors, some applications for citizenship were based on the identities of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war or missing. The personal data would have been used to create false identities, presented as belonging to ethnic Ukrainians eligible for simplified procedures for obtaining Romanian citizenship.
Network size
The searches took place in several localities, including Vârfu Câmpului, Bucharest, Botoșani and Suceava. The authorities estimate that more than 18,700 people from the former USSR appear with fictitious residences on the territory of Romania. In one documented case, an applicant would have paid 75,000 euros for the services offered by the network.
European security concerns
The lawyer Denis Buruian, involved in the procedures to cancel illegally obtained citizenships, warns that the situation represents a direct threat to national and European security. According to him, some of the new holders of Romanian passports would later have settled in France, while others would have chosen destinations such as Dubai, using EU documents to protect their businesses and access to the European banking system.
So far, the authorities in Bucharest have canceled 68 identity documents, and approximately 300 files are still under analysis. Experts warn, however, that the real number of fraudulently granted citizenships could be significantly higher, which would highlight serious vulnerabilities in the Schengen area's security system.
