By Joanna Demarco
Maltese companies sanctioned for links to the notorious Serniya network remain active despite criminal charges
A Russian national named on a US sanctions list for allegedly enabling Russia’s intelligence services and helping it evade Western sanctions through the notorious Serniya network remains a Maltese citizen nearly three years after the Home Affairs Ministry announced its intention to revoke her citizenship.
The Home Affairs Ministry announced it would begin the process of the “deprivation of Maltese citizenship” of Evgeniya Vladimirovna Bernova on 1st April 2022. However, an analysis by Amphora Media of government gazettes published between 2021 and today shows that only four persons have had their citizenship revoked. None of them are Bernova.
Since a change in the law in December 2020, the government is legally bound to “ensure that the names of those persons deprived of Maltese citizenship are published by means of a notice in the [Government] Gazette”.
Agenzija Kommunita Malta – the government agency responsible for citizenship-related matters – confirmed with Amphora Media that the persons who had their citizenship revoked were solely the ones published in the government gazette.
Bernova’s Maltese citizenship status was also verified through the Malta Business Registry database, where she remains listed as ‘Maltese’ under ‘nationality’. Her name is still listed on the “frequently updated” US sanctions list today.
Evgeniya Bernova (third from left) at an event organised at the Hilton for the local film industry by her company MaltaRent Ltd. in 2016. According to archived pages from its website, MaltaRent was established locally to “supply the latest digital technology to … clients from the film industry”.
Bernova is not alone. Tal Dilian – an Israeli intelligence expert, an IDF reserve colonel and founder of Intellexa – a cyber spyware firm known for creating the notorious ‘Predator’ spyware – was named on a US sanctions list in March 2024 but still retains his Maltese citizenship with the ministry announcing that it would be kicking off the revocation process a year ago.
Similarly, Semen Kuksov, a Maltese citizen imprisoned in the United Kingdom for “running a professional banking service for criminals across the world” as part of a wider billion-dollar-money-laundering network, also remains a citizen after his revocation process began at the end of 2024.
Asked by Amphora Media about the fate of Bernova, Dillian, and Kuksov’s Maltese citizenship, the ministry said that “(until finalised)…deprivation processes are internal Ministerial matters.”
“It is to be emphasised that thereafter the publication of the names of the persons concerned is mandatory by law. Thus, the publication of names occurs when the deprivation processes are finalised,” a spokesperson said.
The reasons behind the lengthy processes could vary, and the Ministry said that “there are no statutory timelines” for the process, reiterating that the person being deprived of citizenship could opt to lodge an inquiry with the Committee of Inquiry. This could prolong the procedure.
The Ministry did not specify whether appeals have been filed.
Bernova’s Maltese companies remain active despite sanctions
Bernova’s companies – including Maltese companies Malberg Ltd, Djeco Group Holding Ltd and Maltarent Ltd – were named on the list of sanctions imposed by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in March 2022, shortly after Russia’s war on Ukraine began.
The sanctions were part of a “crackdown on the Kremlin’s sanctions evasion networks and technology companies, which are instrumental to the Russian Federation’s war machine.” The network became known as the Serniya network.
Moscow-based OOO Serniya Engineering, which was at the centre of the network, engaged in proliferation activities at the direction of Russian Intelligence Services, OFAC had reported.
The network “operated across multiple countries to obfuscate the Russian military and intelligence agency end-users that rely on critical Western technology.”
It explained that Bernova, an associate of the Serniya network, operated the Malta-based Malberg Ltd through a multinational web of shell companies. Malberg worked to “deceptively acquire dual-use equipment on behalf of Russian end-users.”
In December 2022, five Russian nationals and two U.S nationals were charged with conspiracy and other offences related to the global procurement and money laundering scheme through the Serniya network on behalf of the Russian government. As of November 2024, two have pleaded guilty, while the rest remain at large.
However, despite the sanctions, allegations and links to criminal charges against the network, all three companies remain active, a cross-check by Amphora Media with the Malta Business Registry shows.
According to Malta’s Sanctioning Monitoring Board, OFAC’s sanctions are not enforceable. However, it “recommended that Maltese economic operators undertake the necessary due diligence when dealing with persons, entities and bodies listed by national sanctions of other countries, particularly paying close attention to the reasons why such sanctions have been imposed in the first place”.
The situation raises questions about the potential ramifications of such long revocation processes on local, EU, and international levels.
In a comment to Amphora Media, Steve Peers, an EU Law Professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, explained that the EU law on sanctions does not explicitly require the Member States to revoke citizenship from those who evade those sanctions, however, doing so would make sanctions more effective.
“It might possibly be argued… that there is an implied obligation to remove citizenship to make the sanctions more effective, in particular in the context of investor citizenship,” he said.
It is unclear why the Maltese government decided to begin procedures to revoke Bernova’s citizenship. Still, the companies involved in the same sanctions list remain active, and questions sent to the government were left unanswered at the time of publication.
Amphora Media was unable to confirm whether Bernova acquired citizenship through naturalisation or investment.
One golden passport buyer loses citizenship in the last four years
Since the change of law in December 2020, only one golden passport buyer has had their Maltese citizenship revoked, Amphora Media can reveal.
Pavel Melnikov is among the four persons listed in the government gazettes as having their citizenships revoked – the other three did not feature in the citizenship list since the introduction of the IIP scheme 2013 or lost their citizenship due to marriage annulments, research by Amphora Media shows.
The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation and partners had reported on the Russian entrepreneur’s citizenship application in Passport Papers.
In September 2018, Melnikov’s property in Finland was raided by Finnish police and soldiers. A trial against the oligarch in Finnish Courts began in December 2023, according to local news reports, where he faced charges including aggravated tax fraud and aggravated accounting crime. The trial is ongoing.
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