Government revokes Maltese citizenship of Russian money launderer Semen Kuksov

The Maltese government has formally revoked the citizenship of Semen Kuksov, a 24-year-old Russian national jailed in the United Kingdom for running what authorities described as a “professional banking service for criminals across the world”.

The decision was published in the latest edition of the Government Gazette, confirming that Kuksov’s Maltese citizenship, which was acquired in 2022 under the country’s controversial cash-for-passports scheme, has been stripped.

Kuksov’s name had appeared on the 2022 list of new citizens published by the government, after he and his father, Vladimir Kuksov, obtained Maltese passports through the state-run citizenship-by-investment programme.

The younger Kuksov was later implicated in a UK National Crime Agency (NCA) probe known as Operation Destabilise, which dismantled an international money-laundering network allegedly linked to Russian organised crime, ransomware operations, and narcotics trafficking.

According to the NCA, Kuksov “admitted” to operating an underground cryptocurrency exchange that moved the equivalent of millions of euros across borders for criminal groups unable to use legitimate financial systems.

Investigators said that in just 74 days, Kuksov and an associate helped launder more than €14 million, using cash-handovers verified by low-denomination banknotes known as “tokens”.

He was jailed for five years and seven months earlier this year in the UK for his role in the network.

“Kuksov ran what amounted to a professional banking service for criminals worldwide,” an NCA operations manager said when the conviction was announced. “Without such services, the business model of many criminal organisations would collapse.”

His father, Vladimir Kuksov, a Russian businessman also holding Maltese citizenship, has not been implicated in the case and has publicly distanced himself from his son’s actions. In fact, his citizenship appears to remain intact.