May 19, 2023

No More Golden Passports?


No More Golden Passports?
Annulled Maltese passports. Dans, Wikimedia Commons.

Wealthy Russians have historically taken advantage of citizenship-for-investment policies. However, Malta and Cyprus have recently annulled dozens of "golden passports" of EU-sanctioned Russian nationals and their families. Options for EU citizenship for Russians are disappearing.

Malta and Cyprus' “golden passports” have long been controversial. After the invasion of Ukraine, the EU asked both countries to deny Russians and Belorussians a path to naturalization via investments and to revoke passports given to investors from these countries. Der Spiegel reported that European Parliament member Moritz Körner solicited Malta to revoke the citizenships of two sanctioned Russians. The deputy also asked Cyprus to annul nine Kremlin-allies' passports and 34 people associated with them. Körner said that these passport holders should “feel the consequences” for enriching themselves off the Kremlin.

Russians have how turned to Vanuatu, whose visa is waived for the Schengen area, for alternative citizenship via investment. Yet Vanuatu is now at risk of losing its visa-free status for its "golden passports" policy.

Malta and Cyrpus have benefited from their passport policies, with Cyprus reporting that between 2007-2020 their citizenship-for-investment made gains of 9.7 billion euros. However, not all hope is lost, since a record number of Americans have begun to apply for such citizenship.

 

You Might Also Like

Financial Paradise Lost?
  • April 16, 2023

Financial Paradise Lost?

The second-largest bank in the UAE will block investment accounts from Russians, citing pressure from EU depositories.
No Money, Only War
  • March 29, 2023

No Money, Only War

Russian authorities blame the "special military operation" for the disruption of infrastructural and social projects.
Cry for Me, Argentina
  • February 19, 2023

Cry for Me, Argentina

Six pregnant Russians were detained while entering Argentina, prompting a criminal investigation into birth tourism agencies.
Screws are Tightening
  • April 12, 2023

Screws are Tightening

March has seen a serious tightening of the screws of repression by the Russian regime.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955