Putin’s regime plans to change legislation and legalize vehicles that appear on search lists from “hostile countries” (that is, from the European Union, and beyond).
Russia may soon legalize vehicles stolen in the European Union (EU) that are taken into the country.
The possible legislative change was proposed by the Russian Interior Ministry and has been under debate since February. The objective would be protect the interests of vehicle owners who “have been included on wanted lists at the initiative of hostile countries”the ministry said in a statement.
The bill was prepared by order of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant. If the law is approved, cars listed as stolen in the 27 countries of the European bloc could be officially registered in the country.
The rule also covers vehicles from countries such as Switzerland, Norway, the USA, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Australia.
Another objective would be to legalize vehicles sought internationally by Ukraine, allegedly confiscated in occupied Ukrainian territories.
Currently, it is prohibited in Russia to register vehicles that appear on international demand lists. However, according to Kommersant, the Ministry of the Interior states that, in general, it is not possible to determine why a vehicle was included in a database of this type.
Since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine, authorities in “enemy countries” have not responded to Russian requests for information about these vehicles, says Moscow.
A Germany is explicitly cited as an example. The issue has a special impact in the country, where there is fear that the new law will cause an increase in the number of stolen cars. The Interior Ministry in Moscow claims that Berlin ignores these requests “for political reasons”.
According to the ministry, in January 2026 there were 123 vehicles in Russia declared as internationally wanted by Germany, but the German authorities did not provide any information about the reasons for this search.
Germany’s Federal Criminal Investigation Department (BKA), responsible for investigating car thefts, confirmed to DW that, at this time, there is no exchange of information with Russia in these cases.
“The BKA is aware of requests from the Russian authorities regarding vehicles sought in Germany. However, as these requests mainly concern civil law issues (ownership and the owner’s interest in restitution), the BKA has no competence in this matter,” the institution said. The organization declined to comment on whether the new Russian law could increase car thefts in Germany. The 123 vehicles listed in January represent just a small fraction of the actual number of cars stolen in the country. More than 30,300 were stolen in 2024, for example, and only 8,858 cases were solved.
“Russia favors crime”
Benjamin Jendro, spokesman for the Berlin-based police union (GdP), told DW that there is currently “no intense exchange between authorities” in Germany and Russia in many sectors.
“In the past there have been cases where Russian authorities contacted us and wanted vehicles were seized there,” he said.
“But anyone can imagine that, at this point, no German agent is going to travel to Russia to recover a stolen car — especially since, by the time the vehicle is found, the insurance claim has usually already been paid a long time ago,” Jendro explained.
The spokesperson classified the new bill as a “disastrous sign” and an “incentive to crime”.
“We have been dealing with stable numbers of vehicle thefts for years, albeit at a very high level. A law like this would make the work of security authorities even more difficult in combating international car trafficking gangs,” he lamented.
According to Jendro, many cars are taken to Eastern Europe and dismantled,“but there are also vehicles stolen practically from a ‘shopping list’ and which quickly end up in countries where we can no longer track them”, he added.
