Russian passport of Judge Bogdan Lvov
On September 15, investigative journalists "Schemes" (Radio Liberty) published an investigation ""A Ukrainian judge with a Russian passport", which cited numerous sources and databases, including public ones, that Bohdan Lvov, Chairman of the Cassation Commercial Court of the Supreme Court, is a citizen of the Russian Federation. He received citizenship in 1999 in Moscow, while already working as a judge in Ukraine. He renewed his passport in 2012 after turning 45.
Journalists established that he was in Moscow on the day he signed the passport application issued in his name. It was Bogdan Lvov's Russian passport that was used to conduct transactions involving his family's undeclared Moscow property, according to the investigation, citing historical documents from the Russian real estate registry. On the day this agreement was finalized, he also traveled to the Russian capital by train from Kyiv. His wife, born in Moscow, also holds Russian citizenship.
In a comment to journalists following the release of the investigation, the judge himself denied that he has Russian citizenship but provided no documentary evidence to support his claim. He also failed to comment on the substance of his family's undeclared Moscow property transactions during the interview, stating that he needed time to reflect on the matter. On September 19, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau registered Criminal proceedings are underway for Judge Lvov's failure to declare his family's Moscow property.
Even before the investigation was released, the Security Service of Ukraine confirmed to Schemes that it had information that could indicate Judge Bohdan Lvov holds Russian citizenship. Following the investigation's release, the SBU did not publicly comment on the results of its official investigation, but according to Schemes' sources from several government agencies, the SBU confirmed the judge's Russian citizenship.
The public manifestation of this was that the SBU deprived the judge of access to state secrets, officially confirmed both by the Security Service at the request of Radio Liberty and in Supreme Court.
The SBU's private action consisted of sending the investigation results to several government agencies, including the Office of the President, which on September 16, several relevant public organizations called on to revoke the judge's Ukrainian citizenship. Bankova Street has not yet publicly responded to this call.
According to the Constitution of Ukraine, a judge's acquisition of citizenship by another country is direct grounds for termination of their powers. However, the High Council of Justice, which could have made such a decision, is blocked and inoperative. And the judges of the Cassation Commercial Court failed to secure the necessary number of votes to remove Lvov from his administrative position as head of the court.
Therefore, despite the revelation of his Russian citizenship, Judge Lvov goes to work, presides over the court, and personally conducted the court hearing on September 27.
On September 26 and 28, he published two posts on Facebook in which he once again stated that the investigation by the Skhemy journalists was a “fake.”
This article provides a detailed analysis of the judge's statements, the main conclusion of which is that the "Schemes" investigation provides reliable information: Ukrainian judge Bohdan Lvov has Russian citizenship and knowingly used it.
Judge Bohdan Lvov's reaction
The day after the investigation was released, on September 16, Bohdan Lvov, chairman of the Cassation Commercial Court of the Supreme Court, repeated the points from his interview with Skhemy in a Facebook post: he denied that he holds a Russian passport and stated that the information disseminated by journalists "does not correspond to reality." The judge wrote a statement He filed a complaint with the State Bureau of Investigation against journalists. He believes that the dissemination of such information about him "is aimed at vacating the position of the head of the court (either forcibly or voluntarily), which should facilitate influence on the outcome of commercial disputes by interested parties."
Another organ where Lvov complained after the publication of the investigation — Security Service of Ukraine. In his statement, Lvov requested that criminal proceedings be initiated under Article 109 of the Criminal Code ("Actions aimed at the violent change or overthrow of the constitutional order or the seizure of state power").
Unlike his statement to the State Bureau of Investigation, in his statement to the SBU on September 16, the judge already acknowledged that Russian authorities were taking into account data on his Russian citizenship, but claimed that these records were made "for the purpose of discrediting him."
Analysis of the Judge's Arguments: Judge Bohdan Lvov's "Mysterious" Form 1P
Almost two weeks after the investigation's release, on September 26, Judge Bohdan Lvov declared on his Facebook page that the "Schemes" investigation was a fake, as the citizen's application form for a Russian passport replacement, dated October 2012 and cited by the journalists in their investigation, was allegedly approved only in November 2012—a month after Lvov completed it. "In other words, at the time this form was allegedly filled out, the form itself didn't even exist," the judge concluded.
Is this really so?
Bogdan Lvov refers to Order No. 391 of the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation dated November 30, 2012, which approved Form 1P, required for obtaining or renewing a Russian passport. He believes the sample form matches the document released by journalists.
The form published in the Schemes investigation differs from the new form from November 2012, to which Judge Lvov refers.
First, paragraph 5 of the form approved by the new 2012 Federal Customs Service order must include a "date of birth" column. While this column is missing from the document published by "Schemes," such wording does appear in the 2009 form, which was in use at the time the judge completed this application.
A comparison of Judge Bohdan Lvov's Form 1P and the sample approved by the new Federal Customs Service Order in November 2012
Secondly, paragraph 8 of the form approved by the order of the Federal Customs Service in 2012 contains the following wording: “Whether you previously held another citizenship, the basis for acquiring citizenship of the Russian Federation.”
The form published by "Schemes" has a different wording: "Whether previously held foreign citizenship and when was accepted into Russian citizenship," which coincides with the wording of the 2009 sample form approved by the Federal Customs Service, which was in official circulation at the time it was filled out by the judge.
Sample form 1P 2009
In other words, the form is more similar to the 2009 regulations than to the later 2012 regulations. Although one clause (clause 7) differs from the one officially added in the published 2009 order of the Federal Migration Service, there is ample public evidence that different departments used different forms with different versions of clause 7 at that time, including the exact same one cited in the "Schemes." This means that this form had already been in practical use for several years as of October 2012.
For example, on the publicly accessible resource "Electronic Moscow," which publishes Moscow's legal regulations, journalists found a sample form for obtaining (replacing) a Russian passport, dated April 2010, which, in content and format, completely matches the one published by the journalists. This means it was in active circulation at the time.
A comparison of Judge Bohdan Lvov's Form 1P and the April 2010 sample published on the Electronic Moscow website
Journalists also draw attention to information from another specialized Russian website, "Passportist," which publishes samples of the documents required to obtain a Russian passport. Webarchs The page contains a sample passport application form available as of May 2012, which is identical in both graphic form and content to the one published by "Schemes."
A comparison of Judge Bohdan Lvov's Form 1P and the May 2012 sample published on passportist.ru
Similar conclusions came and specialists from the legal community DeadLawyersSociety.
Bellingcat investigative journalist Hristo Grozev, in a comment to Radio Liberty, also confirms that the exact same form as published in the Schemes was already in use at the time.
“I saw a form like the one you cited in circulation before 2012,” says Grozev.
Therefore, the judge's claim that journalists published a document dated October 2012 in a form that was approved later and only entered into circulation in 2013 is not supported.
The Mystery of "8"
However, Form 1P, signed by Judge Bohdan Lvov from 2012, did indeed have another mysterious discrepancy, the resolution of which ultimately led journalists to a new discovery and helped further confirm its authenticity.
In this passport application, the passport number is handwritten with a single digit error. According to all registries, Lviv's passport number is: RF 4512 799 636. But in this form, the number ends in 8 at the top.
Whether intentionally or not, the last digit of the passport number assigned to Lvov upon his application was changed on this form. Ultimately, this had no effect, other than the fact that we had to spend a long time searching for this form—not fully understanding why it wasn't included in the electronic extract from the Rospasport system, and it wasn't added to his main file. In the run-up to the publication of this article, we were only able to retrieve it from the archive," explains Natalia Sedletskaya, author of "Schemes."
"But when we noticed that the last digit had been handwritten differently, everything fell into place. We took the file of a person whose passport number ended in 8. And voila—Bohdan Lvova's 2012 Form 1P ended up in the electronic file of another person—a woman who had picked up her passport at the same office in Moscow. Whether it was intentional or not, this numeric error significantly 'hid' this document, which, by the way, we've already obtained in two ways. I have no doubt it's genuine," says Sedletskya.
Form 1P from 2012 of Judge Bohdan Lvov ended up in someone else's electronic file.
Bellingcat investigative journalist Hristo Grozev, who has many years of experience conducting such investigations, told Radio Liberty that he has also encountered cases in which a handwritten passport application contained a single numerical error and was therefore included in someone else's file.
"I've encountered exactly this before. There was a case I encountered where it was a deliberate attempt to hide a handwritten document," says Grozev.
Judge Bohdan Lvov's first passport since 1999
On September 28, Judge Bogdan Lvov continued to insist that the "Schemes" investigation was a "pure fake," and this time he questioned the receipt of the first Russian passport (i.e., the actual acquisition of Russian citizenship) in the late 90s.
We are talking about his previous passport, which has already been cancelled due to expiration of the period - number 4598 589684.
The judge's argument is as follows: in the judge's electronic file from the automated Rospasport system, this document with this number is initially listed as having been issued on a different date—back in 1998. However, below is a photograph of the written application form for a passport with this number—from 1999. Does this discrepancy invalidate the entire investigation?
"We immediately dismissed this discrepancy as completely insignificant and purely technical—old passport files from the 1990s had not been digitized for a long time. We maintain that the correct date of issue of Bogdan Lvov's first passport as a Russian citizen is July 22, 1999. Firstly, in many databases and registries, particularly real estate ones, Bogdan Lvov's first passport appears as having been issued in July 1999. Obviously, when entering this data, for example, when registering co-ownership of an apartment, they were dealing with the original document—the actual physical passport or a copy of it. “And secondly, this completely corresponds to the logic of the written form 1P, from which we see: the application for citizenship is dated June 29, 1999, the date of issuance of the passport is July 22, 1999, and, finally, a month later, on August 24, 1999, Lvov signs the application to confirm its physical receipt,” says Natalia Sedletska, author of “Schemes.”
Here is the form:
It was under this old passport, and from July 27, 1999, that Bogdan Lvov appeared for years in numerous Russian registries and databases as the co-owner of an apartment on Leningradskoe Shosse, a share of which he lost to his wife on June 18, 2012. For example, in the old Moscow real estate database, downloaded many years ago.
This, for example, is a historical extract from the general real estate registry for all of Russia, which also details the basis for Lvov's relinquishment of ownership—a deed of gift of a share of an apartment to his wife, the transaction registration date being June 18, 2012. The date of the contract's conclusion is June 7 (journalists record his presence in Moscow on that day from another database—border crossings).
The transaction was carried out by a citizen of the Russian Federation, Bogdan Yuryevich Lvov, a native of Zaporozhye, using Russian passport 4598589684, passport issue date - July 22, 1999.
An extract from the Russian real estate register detailing the basis for Lviv's withdrawal from ownership
To better understand the logic behind the cross-checking of facts and documents by the "Schemes" investigators and, in general, the history of the Ukrainian judge's ties to Russia, it's worth recalling who he was and what he did in the late 1980s and early 90s.
The context of the Ukrainian judge's ties to Russia
During the Soviet era, Zaporizhzhia native Bohdan Lvov studied at a military higher education institution in Moscow. He is a graduate of the Red Banner Military Institute of the USSR Ministry of Defense, graduating with honors in 1989. This information is publicly available, including in Lvov's file as a candidate for the Supreme Court.
Diploma of Bogdan Lvov from the Red Banner Military Institute of the USSR Ministry of Defense
In Moscow, he met his future wife, Inna Rovdo, a Muscovite and Russian citizen. A check of several different sources and databases, including official ones, indicates that Inna Rovdo (Lvova) still holds Russian citizenship.
For many years in the 90s (and later), Bogdan Lvov had a Moscow “registration” - in the same apartment on Leningradskoe Shosse - together with his wife, mother-in-law and daughter Anna (who is also from birth until now - citizen of the Russian Federation).
But in the early 90s, Bohdan Lvov did not yet have Russian citizenship. Therefore, records from those years contain references to another document: a military ID card numbered OP #081959.
For example, one of the old databases—of Moscow real estate as of 1998—pulls up data showing that, according to this very document, Lvov was registered in an apartment on Leningradskoe Shosse at that time.
Bogdan Lvov was registered in a Moscow apartment using a military ID number OP No. 081959.
Lvov received this military ID upon graduating from a military institute in Moscow in 1989. His training there was confirmed by a judge.
It is this certificate, with the same number, that we see as the basis for acquiring citizenship in 1999:
"I request a passport in connection with the exchange of my certificate for a passport. Certificate No. 37 dated June 13, 1989, from the Red Banner Military Institute, identity card OP No. 081959 issued by the Military Institute on June 30, 1989."
Moreover, in 1999, Bogdan Yuryevich, having acquired Russian citizenship in exchange for his old Soviet-era military ID, had already worked for 6 years as a military judge in Ukraine – in the military tribunal of the Kyiv garrison, then in the military court of the Central region of Ukraine.
What key findings of the Schemes investigation were not refuted by Judge Lvov?
First: as of September 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court judge who heads the Cassation Commercial Court, Bohdan Yuryevich Lvov, is a citizen of the Russian Federation.
In addition to all the documents published by investigators, anyone already knowing his Russian passport number can verify this fact in the current public official registers of the Russian Federation.
The "Diagrams" provide instructions on how to do this:
- First register: website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (works with a Russian VPN): http://сервисы.гувм.мвд.рф/info-service.htm?sid=2000
- Here you need to enter the passport series - the first four digits: 4512
- Then enter your passport number - the last 6 digits: 799636
Thus, the official registry provides information that the passport is not listed as invalid (i.e., it is valid).
- The second relevant official source: the website of the Tax Service of the Russian Federation — https://service.nalog.ru/inn.do
- This is the most comprehensive check, as all four fields must be filled in correctly for confirmation: in addition to the passport series and number, enter your full name (Bogdan Yuryevich Lvov) and date of birth: September 28, 1967.
By filling out these fields on the official website of the Russian tax authorities, the system returns a result not only confirming that this is a valid passport but also Bogdan Lvov's current Russian tax identification number.
The second conclusion, which Lvov cannot refute, is that the judge deliberately used his Russian documents. The Schemes provide evidence that Bogdan Lvov previously registered ownership of a Moscow apartment using his Russian passport and gifted part of the apartment to his wife using this Russian passport. This is documented both in the historical lift from Rosreestr and in all the old "leaked" databases used by investigative journalists for cross-checking, which cannot be retroactively updated.
All of this adds up to one compelling picture, says Christo Grozev, an investigative journalist at Bellingcat who analyzed the case of the Ukrainian judge in Lviv:
"I see that Lvov was already in Russian databases long before your investigation, holding several Russian passports. However, these databases haven't appeared now, nor did they appear last year; they were downloaded 5-6-10 years ago. Therefore, I rule out the possibility that he was either recently granted Russian citizenship or didn't know about it. We checked, and I believe you checked too, and his passport isn't listed as revoked in the public database of invalid passports. So, these two verification methods prove to me that he has a valid Russian passport," Grozev noted.
Current Time investigative journalist Andrei Soshnikov shares this opinion.
"Could Lvov have ended up in official Russian databases against his will? Based on the forms Lvov filled out at the passport office in 1999 and 2012, it's impossible. The forms were filled out by hand, and Lvov's signature is visible on them. But most importantly, his passport numbers, one of which is still valid, can be found in real estate databases that have long since been leaked online—Lvov owned an apartment in Moscow. These databases have been circulating online for many years, and it's impossible to change anything in them after they've been published," the investigator noted.
The authorities' response
Even before the release of the Schemes investigation, the Security Service of Ukraine confirmed to journalists that it had information indicating that Judge Lvov had Russian citizenship and was conducting a verification of this information.
Following the release of the investigation, the SBU has not publicly commented on whether the investigation has been completed. However, it is publicly known that the SBU has revoked Judge Bohdan Lvov's security clearance. This was also officially confirmed in communication Supreme Court.
As Skhemy has learned from several sources, several government agencies, including the Presidential Office, have received an affirmative response from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) stating that Ukrainian judge Bohdan Lvov is a Russian citizen. Zelenskyy has not yet publicly commented on these facts.
According to the Constitution of Ukraine, a judge's powers are terminated upon acquiring the citizenship of another country. Such a decision could be made by the High Council of Justice, the body responsible for making personnel decisions regarding judges.
However, the High Council of Justice's work has been blocked since February of this year due to the lack of a quorum to make such decisions. In its statement, the HRC expressed concern about "the impossibility of making decisions in critical situations under the current circumstances during a time of war facing the judicial system."
Therefore, a Lviv judge with citizenship of the aggressor country continues to hold court hearings. For example, on September 27, he heard a case brought by the National Bank of Ukraine.
On September 27, Bohdan Lvov heard the case of the National Bank of Ukraine.
As of September 29, he remains not only a judge but also the chairman of the Cassation Commercial Court within the Supreme Court—an administrative position to which he was appointed by the assembly of judges of that court, and the assembly has the power to remove him from this position. However, this issue has already been twice unsuccessful in bringing it to the Cassation Commercial Court's assembly of judges.
Following the publication of the investigation by NABU criminal proceedings have been opened Regarding the probable failure to declare the apartment, the judge ruled under Part 1 of Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—"intentional inclusion of knowingly false information in the declaration by the subject of the declaration." Journalists from "Schemes" were summoned for questioning as witnesses in this case.
Radio Liberty is preparing a separate report on how the judge is trying to retain his position and who is helping him do so.
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