An ad selling “Ukrainian citizenship” appeared on the Russian classified advertisement website Avito, according to publications Poligon Media and Mozhem Obyasnit.
The ad, which has since been deleted, offered a Ukrainian passport for sale. A photo of a Ukrainian passport, made to look as if it were issued to a person born in Uzbekistan, was attached to the message.
A document which the seller passed to potential buyers as confirmation has a serial number linking it to the Luhansk region. The ad’s author noted that the passport allows its holder to cross into EU countries.
Anonymous Ukrainian passport dealers told Mozhem Obyasnit that a Ukrainian passport costs around 80,000 rubles (around $1235 USD). “The demand is small, but it’s there,” said one.
A source in the Ukrainian administration of the Kherson region suggested to Mozhem Obyasnit that forms and equipment for producing biometric passports had been stolen in the Kherson region. He says that identifying numbers for stolen passport forms have been handed over to EU governments, “so these passports will not work.”
Since 2017, Ukrainian citizens have been able to enter EU countries without obtaining visas.
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