Malta has revoked the citizenship of Semen Kuksov, a 24-year-old Russian national serving five years in a British prison for operating an international money-laundering network.
The latest Government Gazette has published the decision, which strips Kuksov of the Maltese passport he and his father, Vladimir, obtained in 2022 through the country’s now-defunct Maltese citizenship by investment (CBI) program.
The revocation comes three years after Kuksov acquired citizenship through Malta’s CBI program.
Malta terminated the program in July 2025 following an April European Court of Justice ruling that condemned it as a transactional naturalization procedure, shifting instead to a merit-based citizenship framework.
Kuksov’s conviction in the United Kingdom followed a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation that exposed his role in laundering millions of euros for criminal organizations worldwide.
UK authorities described his operation as a professional banking service for criminals, with an NCA operations manager noting that “without such services, the business model of many criminal organisations would collapse.”
According to the NCA, Kuksov ran an underground cryptocurrency exchange that served clients unable to access legitimate financial systems. The operation moved over €14 million in just 74 days using cash handovers with low-denomination banknotes serving as verification tokens.
Investigators said Kuksov and an associate facilitated transactions for groups involved in Russian organized crime, ransomware operations, and narcotics trafficking.
Kuksov pleaded guilty and received a five-year and seven-month prison sentence in the United Kingdom. The conviction triggered Malta’s revocation provisions under its citizenship law.
Due Diligence and Revocation Mechanism
James Muscat Azzopardi, Partner at Muscat Azzopardi and Associates, explains that “every applicant for Maltese citizenship under the previous Malta Exceptional Investor Naturalisation was subjected to a very thorough due diligence.”
He notes this process made it “impossible for anyone with a criminal record to be granted citizenship.”
Muscat Azzopardi emphasizes that “Malta wanted protection in cases where criminal offences were committed after the acquisition of citizenship, and so Maltese law specifically allows for the revocation of citizenship in cases where an individual is sentenced in any country to imprisonment for more than a year, as happened in this particular case.”
Malta undertook the revocation under the provisions of Article 13 of the Maltese Citizenship Act, which permits the withdrawal of citizenship if a person receives a criminal conviction and sentence exceeding one year of imprisonment within seven years of naturalization.
Vladimir Kuksov, Semen’s father and a Russian businessman who obtained Maltese citizenship through the same program, faces no implication in the money-laundering case. His citizenship remains valid. Vladimir has publicly distanced himself from his son’s criminal activities.
