Romanian officials help Russians enter the EU using fake passports
Russian citizens with forged Romanian passports are freely entering the EU while the government fails to dismantle corruption schemes.
Photo: Global Residence Index, Unsplash
ROMANIA — Shortly after the war in Ukraine began, thousands of Russians, Ukrainians, and Moldovans obtained Romanian passports through illegal means.
According to DW, investigators report that in just the past year, over 7,000 people received falsified Romanian documents via a corruption network involving officials in Bacău and Botoșani counties.
They were assigned fake addresses and new identities to enable free movement across the EU. Authorities suspect the actual number may be much higher.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Russian companies continue operating in Romania despite EU sanctions.
The government provides no clear data on how many passports were issued or on the scale of Russian business activity within the country.
Officially, Bucharest supports EU anti-Russian policies, but in practice, many institutions maintain ties with pro-Kremlin networks.
Earlier, the European Commission presented a new sanctions package against Russia, proposing to increase pressure by lowering the oil price cap to $45 per barrel, shutting down the Nord Stream pipelines, and disconnecting more Russian banks from the SWIFT system.