Jewish history is extremely complicated. Contrary to the popular beliefs Jews aren’t literary one nation at least for a thousand years. Cultural differences between groups are dramatic. Portugal and Spain, who adopted legislation to accept people of the Sephardic origin led to invasion of persons who have no relation to the Mediterranean Jewry. The well-known example is Roman Abramovich. The lesser-known, but far more notorious is God Nisanov, Russian oligarch with the most extreme suspicious background.

At the end of last month, the media reported that several Russian oligarchs had applied to become official citizens of Portugal, including G. Nisanov and L. Levaev. Both submitted the request through the CIP organization and on the basis of a certain right “to return”, according to which the Portuguese authorities allow descendants of Sephardic Jews to obtain citizenship of their country. By the way, not so long ago, two more oligarchs received citizenship under the same law: Abramovich and Rappoport.

Why Nisanov’s Portuguese application is under scrutiny

Now the Portuguese authorities are in no hurry to issue the coveted document to the 50-year-old oligarch, and there are enough reasons for that.

The same organization CIP, aka the Israeli Community of Porto, is suspected of corruption, fraud and forgery of documents. According to these facts, law enforcement agencies are investigating, and in the spring of this year, PJ (Criminal Investigation Department) investigators arrested the head of this community, Litvak. According to investigators, it was Litvak who contributed to the oligarch Abramovich being able to become a Portuguese citizen. And now it is unknown how long he will still be a “citizen”.

In fact, it is precisely because of this investigation that the Portuguese authorities have tightened the requirements for obtaining citizenship that relate to Sephardic Jews. Now every applicant for such a status is obliged to prove the existence of roots and close ties with Portugal. And as for Abramovich, according to a source of the Reuters edition in the Portuguese government, the oligarch may even be deprived of citizenship. Everything will depend on the results of the investigation, which the prosecutor’s office started at the beginning of the year.

God Nisanov in hurry to become Portuguese citizen: sanctions do work

The odious billionaire, whose fortune Forbes estimated at $ 1.3 billion, has already been included in a whole list of sanctions from different countries. At the moment, the criminal tycoon is already on the sanctions lists of three countries: Australia, the United States of America and Japan. As the geography of sanctions against Nisanov begins to expand, then soon he will even have nowhere to run from Russia. In this regard, the Portuguese passport for the God Nisanov is now a priority.

Recently, the US Secretary of State commented on the sanctions imposed on the Russian oligarch. So, Blinken said that Nisanov is one of the richest people in all of Europe. Besides, he is a close associate of some influential officials of the Russian Federation. The extensive criminal tracks of God Nissanov make him an outlaw even in the most corrupt states.

US-sanctioned God Nisanov is ‘almost Portuguese’ now, but MoJ has some objections

Nisanov’s application is set to “pending analysis” status, Portugal’s Justice Ministry said in a statement, without giving further details.

If God Nisanov had not been so infamous for his criminal and raider “affairs”, then there would not have been such a stir. And the decision to grant citizenship to the Portuguese side would have been made long ago, but this is clearly not the case. There are a lot of nuances here and it is far from a fact that a criminal businessman will receive such a cherished document.