According to authorities, over 18,700 individuals from the former USSR have fictitious addresses.
Hundreds of Russian citizens have fraudulently obtained Romanian citizenship to bypass sanctions or live in the European Union.
Russians are acquiring "European citizenship" through fake Romanian documents, thus avoiding sanctions or gaining the opportunity to live in the EU. This is stated in a publication by the French newspaper Le Monde.
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of Russian citizens have fraudulently obtained Romanian citizenship to bypass sanctions or live in the European Union.
Against the backdrop of Romania's declining population, which has been ongoing since 1989, and the emigration of citizens to other EU countries, the small municipality of Vârful Câmpului has doubled its population over the decade. It grew from 3,420 residents in 2011 to over 7,000 in 2021.
"In this town in the north of the country, near Ukraine, nearly 10,000 people were registered to vote in 2024, but some polling stations recorded only a 2% turnout in the municipal elections held in June of the same year," the article states.
This raised suspicions among central authorities. In November 2024, dozens of raids uncovered fraud: there was no economic boom or baby boom, but nearly 10,000 citizens of Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia fraudulently obtained Romanian documents by establishing fictitious addresses in Vârful Câmpului, sometimes without the prior consent of property owners.
Fake documents, which were reportedly produced over the years in exchange for bribes, were issued by officials from two civil registry departments in collusion with local residents.
According to authorities, over 18,700 individuals from the former USSR have fictitious addresses in Romania, and some of them have already received Romanian passports.
"According to investigative journalism and judicial sources, in some cases, Russians even appropriated the identities of deceased Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines," the publication writes.
The media emphasized that since 1991, there has been a procedure for the "restoration" of citizenship for those who can prove that their ancestors were born or lived in the territories of the former Kingdom of Romania between 1918 and 1940. These territories include modern Moldova and certain regions of Ukraine, particularly parts of the Odessa and Chernivtsi regions.
In Romania, organized groups have formed that exploit gaps in the administrative system to issue fake documents. They operate openly and actively promote their services: advertisements targeting Russian-speaking audiences offering "European citizenship" are proliferating on social media.
The Romanian Prosecutor General's Office reported the dismantling of a criminal group established in 2022, consisting of seven Ukrainian citizens who collaborated with local lawyers and officials.
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