Russians Obtaining Romanian IDs Fraudulently: Major Investigation Launched

A widespread investigation is underway after approximately 300 Russian citizens fraudulently obtained Romanian identity documents in recent months, a source within the Border Police confirmed. The revelation comes as Romania’s Sector 6 Local Directorate for the Registration of Persons has taken legal action to invalidate Romanian birth certificates issued to dozens of Russian nationals who presented false identification documents, according to records from the court portal here.

Authorities suspect many of those involved are dangerous criminals or oligarchs linked to the Kremlin and subject to Western sanctions. These individuals have recently been flagged in the Border Police’s system. According to sources, most allegedly used forged citizenship certificates, purportedly issued by Romanian consulates abroad, to obtain Romanian identification cards and passports, allowing them to travel freely within the European Union.

However, nearly 20 cases involve Russian citizens who allegedly obtained Romanian identification using the identities of deceased Ukrainian soldiers who died on the battlefield after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This includes a suspect in a Russian drug trafficking case who fled to Spain.

The source added that this situation is the result of transnational networks offering bribes to public officials and exploiting vulnerabilities in legislation, as well as a lack of centralized information regarding the issuance of documents.

The Two Methods of Fraud

Roman Volosciuk, a Ukrainian national born November 4, 1994, died in March 2024 while fighting for his country. In a cruel twist, his identity is now being used by Rolan Asanov, a Russian national born June 2, 1986, who is wanted in Russia on drug trafficking charges and had fled to Spain. Through a transnational network and a bribe of approximately €15,000 paid to officials at a Population Registration Service in northern Romania, Asanov obtained a Romanian ID card in the name of Roman Volosciuk, allowing him to conceal his identity and travel freely within the EU.

Similar to Asanov, approximately 20 other Russian citizens have allegedly assumed the identities of deceased Ukrainian soldiers, claiming ancestral ties to Romania in order to apply for citizenship through the reinstatement process.

Another group of roughly 280 Russians currently holding Romanian identification allegedly used a different method: presenting false Romanian citizenship certificates, believed to have been issued by Romanian consulates in countries like Russia and Turkey. Sources say none of these individuals have ever been to Romania or speak the Romanian language.

This was possible because Romania lacks a database of certificates issued by these consulates, and officials at the registration services are unable to verify their authenticity in an official system.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Citizenship Authority have not yet responded to a request for information on this matter, submitted on November 6. The General Directorate for Passports stated that “In the event that applications for passport issuance are submitted with citizenship certificates, passport specialists carry out extensive checks on these, and if non-compliant certificates are identified, the competent authorities are notified.”

Russian Citizens Who Allegedly Fraudulently Received Romanian Identity Cards Between 2022 and 2024

• Alexander SERGEEV, born May 26, 1966, a graduate of the Kazan Aviation Institute in 1989, later an officer in the Soviet Air Forces and an engineer at the Vostok Concern. An identity card was initially issued by the SPCLEP Dumbrăveni. The Municipality of Bucharest, Sector 6, filed a lawsuit regarding the “annulment of the marriage certificate.”
• Viktor SHKIPIN, born January 26, 1975, former marketing director at SberBank, Russia’s largest bank. According to his LinkedIn profile, he teaches at the Skolkovo School of Management in Moscow, an institution founded by, among others, businessmen Alexander Abramov, Roman Abramovich, and Ruben Vardanyan, who are close to Vladimir Putin and/or subject to international sanctions. An identity card was initially issued by the SPCLEP Dumbrăveni. He is also currently being summoned to court in a case filed by the Sector 6 Local Directorate for the Registration of Persons, concerning “civil status.”
• Artem SHUNTIKOV, born November 15, 1983, former director at Nefteprombank, wanted on criminal charges for financial crimes, according to his LinkedIn profile, and now residing in Montenegro. An identity card was initially issued by the SPCLEP Câmpulung Moldovenesc. A case is also pending on his name here filed by Sector 6 of the Municipality of Bucharest, concerning the legality of an identity card.
• Vyacheslav SOLOMIN, born May 4, 1975, a person who held leadership positions in companies in the mining and electric power industries such as Sibur Holding, Inter RAO UES, EuroSibEnergo, Rusal, Yes Enrgo Limited. An identity card was initially issued by the SPCLEP Huși. Currently, the Sector 6 Local Directorate for the Registration of Persons has filed a lawsuit against him here concerning “civil status.”
• Oksana PODIEIABLONSKAIA, born April 5, 1984. She has an identity card initially issued by the SPCLEP Săveni. Last month, Sector 6 of the Municipality of Bucharest requested in court “the annulment of birth certificate 18340/27.11.2023,” with PODIEIABLONSKAIA, Alisa Danilova and Makar Danilov as defendants.

It is worth noting that, in recent months, institutions in Sector 6 have opened dozens of cases requesting the annulment of birth/marriage certificates in the names of Russian citizens who allegedly fraudulently obtained these documents.

The ruling in one such case, involving Alexandr STRELNIKOV, the case was decided on the merits on November 7, 2025, reveals the modus operandi of the fraud, which involved presenting a false citizenship certificate.

According to the judges, following checks carried out by the Sector 6 Civil Status Service, it was found that Russian national Alexandr Strelnikov had never applied for Romanian citizenship, nor submitted requests for taking the oath of allegiance, mandatory requirements for granting Romanian citizenship. Nevertheless, he presented a Romanian citizenship certificate issued in Russia in 2016 to the Service, on the basis of which a Romanian birth certificate was issued to him in 2024.

The court decided to annul this certificate. Strelnikov did not submit a response during the trial.

Investigators have also raised suspicions regarding Russian national Iuri Istomin, who shares an address in Bucharest with Constantin Țuțu, a controversial politician from the Republic of Moldova, an associate of Vladimir Plahotniuc, both recently extradited from Greece to be tried for multiple offenses.

Fees Ranging from €15,000 to €40,000

Most of these approximately 300 Russians, the source said, are oligarchs, businessmen close to the Kremlin, or criminals intending to conceal their identities and/or travel visa-free in the European Union, escaping sanctions imposed after Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and/or arrest warrants. The price paid for these documents generally ranges from €15,000 to €40,000, some of which ended up with officials at several Population Registration and Civil Status Services in northern Romania.

In November 2024, searches were conducted at some of these services, where identity cards were issued to some of the individuals mentioned above, on suspicion of corruption and forgery, bribery, and influence peddling. Searches took place in Bucecea and Vârfu Câmpului.

In July 2025, as part of the same investigation, with the help of border police, the General Prosecutor’s Office conducted nearly 300 searches at the services in Câmpulung Moldovenesc-Suceava and Săveni-Botoșani. Information made public at the time indicated that the searches in Câmpulung aimed to dismantle a network that, through officials, obtained non-compliant Romanian identity documents regarding domicile for persons born in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and other former Soviet countries. The searches in Săveni focused on a network that helped nearly 7,000 people from Russia, Ukraine, and the Republic of Moldova obtain Romanian identity documents between 2023 and 2024, based on false documents attesting to Romanian citizenship.

“(…) the beneficiaries obtained identity cards based on certificates attesting to the acquisition of Romanian citizenship and which were previously falsified, establishing domicile at properties belonging to Romanian citizens who were not the holders of the space, and even without their consent, by falsely completing declarations of taking up space and implicitly without their presence before the official of the Population Registration Service,” the General Prosecutor’s Office said at the time.

Causes of the Phenomenon

Currently, after a laborious investigation and sorting of the documents obtained during the searches, prosecutors from the General Prosecutor’s Office have discovered the cases of approximately 300 Russian citizens. They have recently been flagged by the Border Police.

In a response to the outlet, the Border Police stated that the law provides that information regarding entries in the database is for internal use or for other structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, respectively, for Romanian state authorities with responsibilities regarding public order and national security, “and therefore we are unable to provide information regarding Russian citizens flagged at the border.”

As of the time of publication, the General Prosecutor’s Office has not responded to a request for comment on the status of the criminal case.

The source added that there are several factors contributing to the proliferation of criminal networks obtaining false identity documents so easily. One is that prosecutors cannot request wiretaps in cases involving the crime of forging identity documents, as this offense is punishable by a maximum of 3 years in prison.

Additionally, Romania allegedly does not have an electronic record of canceled passports, and for this reason, there are people who declare them lost and then request and receive new ones. The General Directorate for Passports rejected this claim: “(…) the categories in which passports can be found are managed separately, namely canceled, lost, stolen, so there is no possibility of registering a passport as lost in the computer system after its cancellation and, consequently, a new document cannot be issued on this basis.”

Another bureaucratic shortcoming is that when an authority identifies a false citizenship certificate on the basis of which identity cards and Romanian passports have been issued, the legal procedure requires that the cancellation can only be done by court decision, and such cases can take years.

Furthermore, people in such situations, discovered to have had a domicile in apartments with thousands of other people – an illegal practice leading to the cancellation of the ID card – have resorted to another method of recovering their document: they have purchased properties in their names and had their identity cards reissued to the new address without being asked to present a birth and citizenship certificate.

The General Directorate for Population Registration within the Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed this to the outlet, stating that “a new request for presentation of the citizenship certificate would not be justified because (…) the presentation of the previous identity card already allows verification of the person’s identity, including their citizenship.”