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Russians are actively "hunting" for them: how much does Ukrainian passport cost and how is it used?

16.03.2024 23:42 Society

So why are the Russians actively hunting for Ukrainian documents? And how much they are willing to pay for such a document.

So why are the Russians actively hunting for Ukrainian documents? And how much they are willing to pay for such a document.

In Russia, there is a great demand for the registration of forged Ukrainian documents.

In particular, most often we are talking about birth certificates for children.

Sellers of fakes promise "documents" with which Russians will be able to move to the European Union and obtain refugee status from Ukraine there. 

As Korrespondent reports, the Russian media confirmed the popularity of forgeries of Ukrainian passports.

It will be noted that most of the ads on the network are the services of lawyers for Ukrainian refugees who, for one reason or another, have lost their passport or marriage certificate, and cannot return to their homeland for them. However, such services began to be used by the Russians. 

Sellers promise to make a document from original forms, enter data into the state registers of Ukraine, provide a person with a TIN and a birth certificate, which is also entered into the registry office.

At the same time, the series and number of the passport are promised to be applied with a punch printer, as well as add all the necessary stamps.

Some sellers even offer biometric passports, with which you can travel freely. 

Also, one of the most popular services is the sale of a form of an internal passport of Ukraine, "absolutely clean" and "with original watermarks".

The price without filling is 2.5 thousand dollars.

If you need to fill out a document, then it will cost 3-9 thousand dollars. 

Journalists also found an "honest" seller who admitted that a biometric passport could not be forged.

However, he promised that it is possible to forge a birth certificate or an ordinary  Ukrainian passport for only 350 euros and 2 thousand euros, respectively.

Border crossing

Reviews of successful border crossing with fake documents are not particularly shared by either sellers or buyers. But in one of the émigré chats, journalists did find the "happy owner" of a fake Ukrainian passport, Ksenia, who now lives in Latvia.

Ksenia found the seller of forged documents through acquaintances. She says that she did not fall for "fables about obtaining a biometric passport", so she decided to act in a cunning way: she bought an ordinary passport and a certificate.

The "documents" were sent to her by mail two weeks in advance, for which, counting delivery, she paid 2.5 thousand dollars.

She moved with the flow of Ukrainian refugees. She said that she lost her passport on the way. The conversation with the border guards was the most terrifying. But that's okay, they checked, they missed," she said.

At the same time, lawyers argue that it is impossible to forge biometric Ukrainian passports – Russians have only learned how to paste and laminate photos, put the necessary seals, but even an experienced fraudster cannot cope with biometrics.

Another issue is that in the flow of refugees, it is quite possible to cross the border without documents, especially if you have at least something on hand.

This is what Russians use when crossing the border with the EU countries: they claim that the passport was lost, but there is a certificate and a non-biometric foreign Ukrainian passport, which are much easier to forge.

Read also: Mobilization evasion schemes: lawyer commented on the legality of "marriages" and "adoption" 

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