The European Commission called on the EU governments to cancel national programs for the sale of citizenship to investors, also known as "golden passport" programs, and to suspend the sale of visas to Russian and Belarusian citizens.
"Voice of America" reported about this.
It is noted that such a step was taken against the background of fears that among the holders of "golden" visas or passports of the EU may be persons who have been on the sanctions lists due to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.
"Some citizens of Russia or Belarus, who are under sanctions or provide significant support for the war in Ukraine, could obtain EU citizenship or privileged access to the EU, in particular for free movement of the Schengen Area" - announced the European Commission.
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine, the EU has blacklisted almost 700 high-ranking Russian politicians, businessmen, and militaries.
The European Commission also called for an immediate halt to national passport sales programs that exist today. Today, similar programs exist in Malta, Cyprus, and Bulgaria. All these countries pledged to stop their operation. Also, the Bulgarian Parliament voted for the termination of the national program for the sale of "golden" passports and visas.
As the official Brussels said, EU governments should check whether individuals who are subject to sanctions have "golden" passports or visas. The decision on the possible revocation of such passports or the withdrawal of residence permits remains with the EU governments.
Earlier, in October 2020, the European Commission began an investigation into Cyprus and Malta for the sale of "golden passports".
Since November 1, 2020, Cyprus has temporarily canceled the program of "golden passports". The decision was adopted following an extraordinary government meeting and related to abuses of the provisions of the program. So, Al Jazeera journalists shot a video of the President of the House of Parliament, Demetris Sillouris, and Member of Parliament, Christakis Giovanis trying to help a Chinese businessman with a criminal record to get a Cypriot passport.
In November 2019, the Cypriot government began to withdraw passports from unreliable buyers of investment citizenship. The audit then began after Reuters found that Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Seng, his supporters, and relatives had bought Cypriot citizenship for illegally withdrawing money from the country.
Cyprus began granting citizenship for investments in 2014, at the peak of the financial crisis. At the beginning of 2019, the EU criticized this practice, and the rules of the program were made tougher.
In early September 2020, Politis published a list of 34 people, most of them Ukrainians and Russians, who received "golden passports" of Cyprus through investments. The list was approved from 2008 to 2012. It lists businessmen who "were in a high-risk group," were in those years under investigation, or whose business was subject to sanctions or administrative fines.