Malta Won’t Ban Russians From Buying Maltese Citizenship As Instant Reaction To Ukraine Invasion
Malta won’t impose a blanket ban on Russian nationals from buying Maltese citizenship as a snap reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Questioned by Lovin Malta today, Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship Alex Muscat said that while the government is following developments in Ukraine “very closely”, the citizenship scheme is already extremely rigorous.
“Investors, including Russians, must pass through a rigorous due diligence process and the scrutiny process costs us over €45,000 per investor,” Muscat said. “International experts are now coming to Malta to receive training on due diligence.”
He said that Malta has the highest applicant rejection rate among EU member states who offer similar citizenship schemes and is the only one that publishes the names of all new citizens.
Prime Minister Robert Abela will join other EU leaders this evening to discuss whether to approve a set of sanctions against Russia and is expected to push for diplomatic solutions to the crisis.
A report by The Telegraph earlier this month claimed the US is worried that the Kremlin is using Malta’s citizenship scheme as a “soft-entry point” for access to the EU and international financial markets although it didn’t cite any sources.
Malta has an important plac in the history of friction between Russia and the West. Back in 1989, US President George H.W. Bush and Soviet General Mikhail Gorbachev held a summit on the island in which they declared an end to the Cold War.
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