To legalize themselves in the European Union and bypass Western sanctions, Russian citizens are illegally obtaining Romanian citizenship through corruption schemes and forged documents, reports Le Monde.
Source: Gazeta.UA
The scheme is based on falsifying “Romanian ancestry.” Russians exploit the repatriation law, which allows descendants of residents of the former Kingdom of Romania from 1918–1940 (Moldova, parts of Odesa region, and Chernivtsi) to obtain a passport.
Due to destroyed archives, fraudsters invent relatives, and in some cases use personal data of deceased Ukrainian soldiers.
One of the scheme’s hubs is the village of Vîrfu-Câmpului near the Ukrainian border, where the population doubled over 10 years. In November 2024, police uncovered a network that registered about 10,000 citizens from Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia there.
Social media actively advertises “European citizenship” for €4–7 thousand. Agencies claim legality but operate using long-established schemes with the assistance of certain Romanian officials.
The Romanian Prosecutor General acknowledges that it only takes one “loophole” or an official willing to “look the other way” for criminals to exploit gaps in the system.