Russian Citizens Used Fake Documents to Obtain Romanian Citizenship and Enter EU

Hundreds of Russian citizens have obtained Romanian identity documents fraudulently since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, using the papers to bypass sanctions and live in the European Union, according to Le Monde on December 23. 

Romanian prosecutors traced part of the scheme to the northern commune of Varfu Campului near the Ukrainian border, where raids found that roughly 10,000 citizens of Moldova, Ukraine and Russia had been issued Romanian documents using fictitious addresses, sometimes without property owners’ consent.

Prosecutors said the investigation uncovered a criminal group formed in 2022 that filed more than 900 naturalization requests in 2025 using falsified documents, “essentially for Russians.”

Bucharest already canceled 68 Romanian identity documents and said hundreds more cancellation procedures were pending, while the district’s deputy civil registry director, Constantin Florea, was quoted as saying: “A wave of requests nearly blocked our services.” 

Le Monde reported that Romanian officials estimate more than 18,700 citizens from the former Soviet Union have fictitious residences in Romania, and it cited a police officer and a judicial source as saying some Russians also used the identities of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war to obtain documents.

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The newspaper said demand from Russians also rose through Romania’s citizenship “restitution” process, with Romania’s citizenship authority reporting 6,658 Russian applications in 2023 and 4,574 in 2024, compared with 5,262 total between 2012 and February 2022.

Le Monde also added criminal networks openly advertise services to Russian speakers, offering to secure Romanian passports for about $4,700 to $8,300, while more recent schemes involved forging citizenship certificates directly.

Earlier, it was reported that Malta sold passports to sanctioned Russians through its “golden visa” program, allowing at least seven sanctioned Russian businessmen and officials to acquire full EU citizenship despite sanctions.

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