Machine fuss: how cars stolen in the EU end up in Russia
In Russia, there is a well-established scheme for the legalization of cars stolen in Europe or rented by front persons in Ukraine. Buyers of such vehicles risk being left without a car and getting into trouble with the law. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
"Drop", rent, tour to Russia
A source from the field of automotive security said that Russia is becoming the final destination of stolen cars in Europe. There are loopholes through which such machines obtain "clean" Russian documents, which allows them to hide their criminal origin for years.
— In Europe or Ukraine, a car is stolen or rented by a front person. Then he is registered in the new territories of the Russian Federation on a "drop" with "honest" documents," the source explained.
The key element of the scheme is the import of a car into the territory of the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics, where, according to the interlocutor, simplified procedures for vehicle control are in place.
"Since people can reissue a car [registered in Ukraine] in their own name and register it in Russia without any customs procedures, distillers usually don't have any problems," he said.
After that, the phase of final legalization of the car begins.
— Then the car goes to Rostov-on-Don and there it is reissued as a "real" citizen of the Russian Federation. According to all the documents, this will be the first accounting and one owner, if you break through the databases. There will be no history of a foreign car," the source said.
He stressed that such vehicles are not formally "broken up" and successfully pass any standard examinations, since there is no information about them in the international search databases available in Russia due to restrictions on access to these databases by Interpol. However, the main risk for the end customer comes after some time.
— A person who buys such a car can safely ride for two or three years without suspecting anything. But if she is put on the wanted list through Interpol, then sooner or later a request will be sent to her," the car security specialist warned. In this case, according to him, the car will be arrested and will either become evidence or go to a special parking lot. An unpleasant surprise may await Russians after traveling abroad in a car with a "gray biography." At best, the owner will return to his homeland on foot.
Izvestia sent a request to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Rostov region with a request to comment on what the source said. At the time of publication, the request remained unanswered.
A one-way game
In February, Sergei Plokhov, head of the Organizational and Legal Department of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, announced that Interpol was unilaterally ending the international search for accused and convicted persons in Russia.
"The problem of cooperation with Interpol remains urgent in the conditions imposed in March 2022 by the decision of the Interpol Executive Committee on restrictive measures regarding messages and notifications prepared on the initiative of Russian law enforcement agencies. Interpol continues to unilaterally terminate the international search for accused and convicted persons wanted by Russian law enforcement agencies," Plokhov said.
The police of unfriendly countries ignore requests from Russian security forces to search for cars, as previously reported by the head of the National Bureau Center Interpol Russian Interior Ministry Valery Kalachev.
However, Russia continues to fulfill its obligations under the orders received within the framework of joint work. The main problems of countering car theft were discussed by the delegation of the Russian Bureau of Interpol in mid-November at the organization's headquarters in Lyon. In particular, the Russian side shared its experience of using Interpol's tools in combating theft of vehicles. "The participants of the event also supported Russian proposals to further improve international police cooperation in combating this crime," the Russian Interior Ministry said on the official channel of the Interpol National Security Council.
In the current reality, contacts with Interpol are significantly difficult, if not to say that they do not exist at all, says Valentin Stanovov, a retired police colonel and an expert on organized crime.
— The stolen database of vehicles from Europe is updated irregularly and not from all EU countries. For example, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have actually refused to cooperate with Russian law enforcement agencies. At the same time, the main flow of stolen vehicles in Europe goes through Poland to Ukraine and is controlled by members of Ukrainian organized crime groups.
It is quite obvious that when the connections within the law enforcement system are restored, a large array of stolen vehicles will begin to "ring" when checked against search databases, Stanovov says.
— This means that hundreds of people who have bought cars with a dark history risk being left without vehicles and without money given to fraudsters.
The overseas problem
In 2024, the problem with stolen cars being delivered to Russia from Canada came to light. This country has an exorbitant level of car theft, and it remains one of the world leaders in this type of crime. In the first half of 2025 alone, over 23,000 cars were stolen in the country, and almost half of these crimes (44%) remained unsolved. So, in February last year, thousands of cars ended up in international theft databases and were found by Russian buyers. For example, the owner of a RAM 1500 pickup truck stolen in North America turned out to be a law—abiding resident of the Novosibirsk region - he bought the car at a local car dealership.
There are enough such cases in different regions of the country. For example, a Lexus stolen in Canada and put on the Interpol wanted list was arrested in the Buinaksky district of Dagestan.
Also, cars planted abroad get into the Interpol database, and then the Russian police. Such cars can be seized from the Russian owner after checking on the road.
The fate of such cars is to rust in the police parking lot. In the best case, the security forces give the vehicle to the owner for safekeeping without the right to conclude transactions with respect to the disputed property.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
