Italian authorities have arrested a former ambassador on suspicion of operating an illegal scheme that issued Schengen visas to Russian citizens in exchange for payments of up to 16,000 euros per person.

We are talking about Piergabriele Papadia de Bottini di Sant'Agnese, former Italian ambassador to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, who took over the leadership of this embassy on December 2, 2024. And also, at that time, he also took over "the management of the visa office", as Michel, head of the visa office before the ambassador's arrival, told investigators of the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza in Rome, News.Az reports, citing Voxpress.

“Around the middle of the month he ordered the entry into the office of Tatiana Tarakanova,” a 53-year-old Russian woman with Italian citizenship and residing in Bulgaria, who had previously collaborated with Papadia during his years at the Italian consulate in Moscow.

Both are now under investigation by the Rome prosecutor's office for facilitating illegal immigration and corruption in breach of official duty. Yesterday, Guardia di Finanza officers implemented security measures issued by Rome judge Annalisa Marzano. Papadia was arrested in Rome and sent to prison pending the conclusion of the investigation. He had been dismissed from office in December 2025.
How did the visa system work?

According to investigators, Papadia, with the help of his associate, had set up a system for issuing long-term tourist visas (from one to three years) to Russian citizens, even when they did not meet the criteria required by the rules for entry into the Schengen area.

Everything was done for very high fees, from 4 thousand to 16 thousand euros per person. While the official application fees range from 45 to 60 euros. In addition, Papadia and his assistant had also created a "VIP fee".

The system was well-organized. It involved three Moscow-based travel agencies: Happy Travel, Visa4you and Park Lane, all at the same address. Through these agencies, at least 95 Russian citizens entered Italy without fulfilling the necessary visa requirements, such as lack of residency in the consular area (in this case Uzbekistan), documents signed differently from the signature in the passport or without physically appearing at the consulate.

According to investigations, some requests were also sent via Telegram and were called "off-list".

The investigation began after an inspection by the General Inspectorate of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on July 23, 2025.

"Visa practices checked during the inspection showed obvious violations directly linked to the head of mission Papadia, who put the 'ok' mark and his initials on the documents," the investigators write.

Of the 92 practices checked, in 81 cases the names of Russian citizens were missing from the embassy's entry register, meaning they had never appeared in person.

This is what the agencies were for. One of them, Visa Concord Travel, "known to Papadia since 2014," according to investigators, had transferred around 23,600 euros between January and June 2025 to a Bulgarian bank account belonging to Tarakanova, fictitiously justified as "interest-bearing loans."

The ministerial inspection was the beginning of the end for this scheme. Investigators reconstructed the entire mechanism, including the places where the first 95 beneficiaries of visas issued in violation of the rules had stayed in Italy.

During a meeting with inspectors, Papadia “stuttered and couldn’t speak,” Michel said. “Even Esposto (Papadia’s appointed deputy) was very worried and told me that Papadia had done everything for financial gain.”

It was deputy Marco Esposto, recording a conversation with his boss during the inspection, who would get Papadia into trouble. Esposto, appointed “without any authority,” after realizing the loose way in which visas were issued, feared disciplinary consequences and asked his boss: “Tell me why you did it? Did you do it for money? Because if that’s the reason, then you’re going to pay for my children’s school until December.”

Papadia replied: "I needed them."

For investigators, this response constitutes an admission of guilt that is added to the other evidence collected. Papadia defended himself by saying: “The recording must be seen in context. It happened during the inspection, while the inspectors were in the next room. I was in a state of intense anxiety and weakness. I tried to calm him down.”

The arrest measure was also imposed due to the risk of flight, as the suspect was interested in the possibility of obtaining a visa to Russia.

Now prosecutors and the Guardia di Finanza are continuing investigations into around 400 visa practices and into Papadias' wealth, estimated at around 3 million euros, which he claims comes from an inheritance.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli