“Golden passports” of 45 Russians were canceled by Malta and Cyprus

According to the European Commission, due to sanctions EU In connection with the invasion of Ukraine, several dozen Russians were left without “golden passports” the other day: the authorities of Malta and Cyprus deprived some investors and their families of their citizenship.

How writes Spiegel, Cyprus canceled the passports of 9 Russian investors and 34 members of their families. Malta did the same for two people.

The Golden Passport program provides an opportunity to obtain citizenship in exchange for investment. In Cyprus, this required €2.5 million to be invested in the economy. Thanks to this program, the country attracted €9.7 billion from 2007 to 2020.

However, after the start of a full-scale war of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, the European Union demanded that all EU member states or those applying for this status stop issuing passports or residence permits for investment and deprive sanctioned persons associated with the Kremlin of their citizenship.

In April, Cyprus withdrew 21 “golden passports” from Russian oligarchs – billionaires Alexander Ponomarenko, Vadim Moshkovich, Mikhail Gutseriev and Alexei Kuzmichev were left without a second citizenship. Malta suspended its golden passport program in March. Consideration of submitted applications was put on pause “until further notice.”

Malta remains the only EU country that still grants citizenship in return for investment. At the end of September, the EU filed a lawsuit against the republic. They explained that the issuance of EU citizenship in exchange for investment without a real connection with this country is incompatible with the principles of association.

However, wealthy citizens of the Russian Federation have found a “workaround” way to get into the EU. According to Spiegel, citizenship by investment is issued by the island nation of Vanuatu, located in the South Pacific Ocean, as well as Montenegro – their passports allow you to enter the EU without visas.

True, in February it was reported that Montenegro stopped issuing passports for investment and notified the EC about this, on December 31, 2022, the program officially ended. Last year, 400 people received Montenegrin citizenship by investment.

Not so long ago we talked about how European countries, including Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain, created golden visa system to attract foreign investors after the financial crisis. She helped get billions of dollars from abroad.

In February, it became known that Portugal would stop issuing “golden visas” to foreigners, as Prime Minister António Costa announced. Ireland has taken a similar decision. Local authorities have begun to curtail national programs for granting citizenship to investors after a corresponding recommendation from the European Commission.

However, the fact that European “golden” passports soon to be invalid, we reported back in the spring of last year. The European Parliament voted a decision that it was time to put an end to the process of “selling” European citizenship to people from third countries. MPs plan to abolish golden visas over the next three years, by 2025. An important argument in favor of such a decision was the fact that with the help of purchased citizenship, rich Russians can avoid the sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine.

Earlier, our publication reported that Serbia did not pass the billfacilitating the acquisition of citizenship by Russians.

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